GM also sold their own version (GM Stop Leak Tablets), which was commonly used as a "routine maintenance item" (which is a euphemism for "method of delaying coolant leaks until after the warranty expires") on some "problem" engines.elwesso wrote:Back in my GM/Cadillac days, you needed to use the bars leak additives in that cooling system.
how's the stop leak holding?qship96 wrote:bottle of snake oil bars Leaks was dumped in, leak slowed and then stopped it appears, for how long who knows! sure looks a nasty color in the overflow container LOL.
maybe I should start looking for a Demolition Derby to enter the old girl in!
Wes - I saw this in real life once when I was mere youngster. We had a neighbor that inherited a 1946 Ford Pickup like the one in the picture. So one day he started it up after it had been sitting for about a year. There was no coolant in the radiator. When he filled it with water I remember seeing water spray out of the radiator core area. So the guy had somebody go purchase two cans of ground cooking ginger and then dumped it in the radiator. So then everybody watched the leaks stop like magic. I will never forget watching that ginger stop radiator leaks.elwesso wrote:I'm not too familiar with those bars leak products other than what I mentioned. I know on the Cadillac's it was particularly bad with the Northstar's.. IMO that whole thing was a BS cover-up for a poorly designed cooling system. Turns out that it IS possible to have a 32V V8 that doesn't blow headgaskets or spray coolant everywhere... The northstar was a good engine and a good concept, but typical GM cheapness and shortcuts made it less than stellar (and nowhere near as good as the VH).
I read some old posts and they actually recommend dumping the product into one of the hoses rather than directly into the cooling system, that way the stuff gets distributed more into the actual cooling system rather than the radiator. So, I might consider dumping it directly into the heater core in your case.
Most of those bars leaks products are simply ground up ginger root. Ginger root will shrink when wet and expand when it's dry. So it will wedge itself into a leak, clot it, and then expand on the "dry" side of the leak. That's the theory anyway.