stopleak/gasketfixer

[MiltonHavoc]

Has anyone used any of these products for a fast fix?
What results did you have. what product did you use.

[denguy]

I punched a hole in my radiator a long way from home, once upon a time. To keep going I dumped in some stopleak I found in a nearby gas station. Then I dumped in a little more just to be sure. I drove about ten miles and it started to overheat. Ended up having the radiator pulled, rodded out and patched. Cost me a couple of days off my vacation.

[blkfordsedan]

I've used Stop-Leak for years. Usually with good results....sometimes not. A couple weeks ago, I noticed my 97 F250 was losing water down the front of the engine. It was leaking out of the LF corner of the intake manifold, where the intake bolts to the LH head. I went to tighten down the intake bolt on that corner, but the bolt was rusted in half and came out with my fingers, lol. The proper fix is to pull the intake and extract the remains of the bolt. Then, install new intake gaskets and a new bolt. Instead, I just added a can of Barr's Stop Leak with glass fibers made for sealing gasket leaks. It's been 2 weeks, and it appears to not be leaking anymore. We'll see how long it lasts. If it lasts, then great. If not, I'll fix it proper later this summer.

[Movin]

The old type of head gasket in a can works ( water glass ) The new stuff has failed every time. The GM tablets seem to work great when used as intended. Other quick fixes seem to be a two sided sword.

[Tommychu]

Bar's leaks (and other similar products) stops leaks 90% of the time, but it does terrible things to your cooling system. You are coating the inside of all the coolant passages with wax and wax doesn't conduct heat very well. So your coolant doesn't get as hot as it would (meaning you get less heat from your heater, your temp gauge generally reads lower and your fan won't kick in as quickly) and the engine itself runs hotter. I've seen the stuff kill a dozen engines.
Gaskets are cheap. Rads, water pumps, heater cores and other cooling system components are pretty cheap as well. Rebuilding or replacing an engine, not so cheap.

[JPT]

I've use it as a temporary fix only. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Count on flushing the coolant system afterwards.

[blkfordsedan]

I will agree that I would prefer to not have the stuff floating around in the coolant system, but the worst problem I've ever had is the occasional plugged or restricted heater core. In such cases, it was always an old car or truck that had decades of build-up. As long as the cooling system is in reasonable condition and adequate capacity to start with, I can't see Stop-Leak pushing it over the edge to failure. My Dad used it in everything we owned, from cars to tractors and heavy construction equipment. The caviot to this is it was always older stuff from the '50s thru '80s. That stuff never ran more than 160F to 180F. If the temp gauge got to 200F, you were looking for a place to pull over, lol.

[kumalaba]

:thumbs_up:

Bar's leaks (and other similar products) stops leaks 90% of the time, but it does terrible things to your cooling system. You are coating the inside of all the coolant passages with wax and wax doesn't conduct heat very well. So your coolant doesn't get as hot as it would (meaning you get less heat from your heater, your temp gauge generally reads lower and your fan won't kick in as quickly) and the engine itself runs hotter. I've seen the stuff kill a dozen engines.
Gaskets are cheap. Rads, water pumps, heater cores and other cooling system components are pretty cheap as well. Rebuilding or replacing an engine, not so cheap.