Black Pepper Trick for Cooling Systems?

[Jesda]

From dodgeintrepid.net:"One heaping tablespoon of ordinary Black Pepper. Add to system, imediately drive car about 20 miles . No this is not a joke. My gearhead brother told me about it a few years ago. I was very hesitant to try it in my '94 3.3. Was leaking coolant behind water pump where timing cover is attached to engine block. Dumped in the pepper about 3 years ago , leak was stopped after 20 mile drive, has never leaked ever since. car has original pressure cap, thermostat, all hoses,radiator and temp sensor. Operating temp is the same as when car was new, never varies by more than the width of the needle reguardless of outside temp whether it's a 20 below 0 degrees F Wisconsin winter night or a 95 degree summer day.My daughter's '89 Cutlass Ciera had the aroma of anti-freeze inside her car from leaky heater core. about a year and a half ago I peppered her system and she has not had any leakage or any other coolant related problems with car ever since."

Any validity to this?Source: http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/f...45377

-Jesda

[Axel Grungy]

bwwwwwhaaaaat??!! ive never heard of that before in my life!! but who knows, there is some wierd tricks that actually work.

[psychic_mechanic]

It works, but it's a ghetto trick to finish a race if you put a hole in your radiator in the middle of a dirt track race. The pepper is not water soluble and clogs where the leak is. It's handy because the snack shack usually has pepper packets, grab a couple of handfuls and start dumping them in before your feature. Eggs work too, they boil when exposed to air(at the leak) but usually aren't stocked at the track.

I've heard some freaks even use "bar's leak", but this is an unsubstantiated internet rumor.

[s13sr20chris]

i have a friend that races stock cars. he holed a radiator once and dropped in some pepper and an egg(minus the shell). ran the whole race like that(rad went on 1st lap). side note: gm used to issue pepper tablets to the dealerships to use as a stop leak pill.

[BadMojo]

i have a friend that races stock cars. he holed a radiator once and dropped in some pepper and an egg(minus the shell). ran the whole race like that(rad went on 1st lap).

I can see that in a race environment, but it's scary that people are driving for miles and miles only relying on pepper to keep coolant in their radiators.

[s13sr20chris]

i mentioned that gm distributed the stuff to their dealers. it was meant to be installed during routine services.

[Sircnay]

Quote »i mentioned that gm distributed the stuff to their dealers. it was meant to be installed during routine services.[/quote]But then again, GM and quality never really went together.

[BadMojo]

i mentioned that gm distributed the stuff to their dealers. it was meant to be installed during routine services.

That's even more frightening, though after witnessing first-hand the errr...quality of my mother's Pontiac Grand Am, I'm not entirely surprised. I guess pepper used to fix a leaky radiator is still less of an automotive tragedy than the Saturn Ion.

[SDRonEbay]

That's something I remember hearing in my childhood. Of course I did grow up in the ghetto.