Had a retired mechanic tell me that he used to fix small or slow radiator leaks by putting mustard in them when hot and run it. I've heard of pepper and a few other things but never mustard. Anyone else hear of this and does it work?
This is what I do myself, just was wondering about the mustard. It was the first time that I had heard of it.
Seen it once at a shop I worked at an old Chevy van came in overheating. Open the rad cap and this white goo cake out. On closer inspection it was rice!! Someone sabotaged this guys van by dumping a bag of uncle Ben in his rad!! The rice cooked and expanded and filled everything!! Rad out , heater core all hoses and popped every freeze plug we could access to flush out the block. What a bloody mess and an easy way to write off a car. Only saw it once. Don’t know who the owner pissed off but it was a good/bad way at revenge !
My 36 had one leak up close to the top the prev owner stuck a foam earplug in it and ran it for months like that...YMMV Said earplug below:
Well, they ARE meant to plug holes. I've soldered a number of leaking old brass radiators/heaters for friends, not the easiest thing to do but if you can get the metal clean and heat just the right spot it works pretty nice.
Don't understand why anyone would risk using these old wives tales remedies today when they could use a product that is researched and designed to fix the problem, if only for long enough to get it fixed properly.