Small radiator leak and temorary fix ideas.

[devlmaycry]

Ok, so I've owned my car for about a year now and have always noticed in the past when my coolant overflow is full I will get a smell of antifreeze for a little while until its empty again. Part of it seemed to be from the clamp on the container not getting a good seal and some leaking out. However, now that I've fixed that I noticed when the car gets good and hot it looks like the cooling fans steams. I took a closer look and it seems like there's a decent size gap in one of the fins and my guess is that its leaking just a small amount there and steaming as is evaps off the fins. Now I really don't have 200$ to buy a new aluminum radiator for my SR, but have never used any stop leaks before.

So, as a temporary fix until I can shell out the cash for a new radiator does anyone have preferences on which sealant to get? I've heard stories about stuff clogging heater cores and I would like to avoid that.

[nismo 1989]

well for a temporary fix u cn put a scrambled egg in the rad and it will cook the egg and plug up the hole...also if u dont mind the smell of eggs//also never had nne trouble doing this to ne car about it plugging up nething other then the leak

[devlmaycry]

Yeah I drove to the store and got some stop leak, but the symptoms stopped. I think when I didn't have the radiator cap on earlier today that I soaked the rad. and it all had to burn off. So, I got some alumaseal laying around now just in case it starts up again.

And though Mythbusters did show that you could stop small leaks temporarily by putting an egg in a radiator IE MacGyver style. I think I'll stick to the other store bought remedies.

[dana541]

be shure to flush out the rest of that stop leak after the hole plugs up with it.its not good to leave a bunch of that stuff floating around in your coolant system.plugs radiators and water jackets.

[Philipio]

Stop leak anything is terrible honestly.

[kouki munster]

I would rather not drive my car for several months while I save up for a new radiator than put the stop leak crap in it. That stuff does more harm than good, I've seen quite a few cars start to over heat because that stop leak junk clogged up the radiator.