I don't suppose any of you guys ever done this before... I have an aluminum radiator in the '32 that's had a slight leak in it forever. I don't want to change it out yet, so I always run a little stop leak in it to keep things going. Every once in a while I have to refresh it and it runs another 6000-7000 miles. I usually carry some with me just in case. Well, the other day i needed to go somewhere right away and I saw it was leaking again. I looked for my bottle of stop leak and I couldn't find it, so I walked over to the dollar store to get another bottle. I found what I wanted made the purchase and off I went. Got home, poured in 1/2 a bottle and thought everything was OK. I set the bottle on the bench and to my surprise... NO! Yes I did! I got snookered! I had to go, so I loaded up for the evening and off I went. I must have ran about 75 miles before returning home. In the morning I looked in the radiator and there was a slight oil slick on the coolant, but other than that everything looked OK. So, I went to town again, bought some radiator flush, more anti-freeze and another bottle of stop leak. It seems to be working OK, but I'm still not ready to change the radiator yet. But, I can see it's on the long to-do list. Moral of the story, look really close at the fine print before you pour it in!
moral of the story should be that continually putting off proper repairs will only make things worse in the long run - since you had system cleaned and drained would have been the time to remove radiator and have it repaired
And it won’t rust I’ll agree with the sentiment that it’s past time to replace the rad. One more thing, the print isn’t even small, The word Radiator is actually almost huge
I had to look at the picture for a long long time to see the difference, your not the only one. I have used radiator stop leak (Small tube with ground up aluminum power) with great results.
For what it’s worth some automotive dealerships always add stop leak when the cooling system is serviced. It’s not just ‘snake oil’.
One time I stopped at a gas station to add air to a tire on a Plymouth Valiant I was driving. Parked next the water was an early 80s Olds Cutlass with the hood up. I filled up my tire and about that time a dude came walking out with a few bottles of transmission fluid. He opened one up and started pouring it into the radiator fill! Sensing my mechanical inclination he says to me, “dang mang, how many of these does thing take?” I could only reply with, “a whole lot” and I got in my car and sped outta there. I don’t think I’ll forget that time ever...
I tried using stop leak when I was a kid in a field car but it caused over heating. A sheet metal screw with an o ring has been known to work great [re-long time] for me..
Wife sent me to get some pads once, brought home a box of S.O.S! Told her next time be more specific, the ones with wings, non skid or what???
I don't ever use Stop Leak as it causes sludge to build up behind freeze plugs and rots them out. There was a recent HAMB post where someone was trying to figure out where the sludge behind his freeze plugs came from and causing them to leak. Can't imagine the havoc it causes in heater cores an block water passages.
I already welded it up 3 times shortly after it was put into service. All three mounting tabs broke off in about 10,000 miles, so I welded them back on and gusseted them. That fixed that problem. Yes, I have springs on the lower mounts... But, it leaked at the bottom of the cooling tubes where they go into the tank. I'm not going to cut the tank off and re-weld everything, it leaked from the factory. I didn't want to re-invent the radiator! So, the dealer and I went to the factory (made in the USA) and they looked at me cross-eyed like it was my fault. I won't say who built it, but I'll get a brass one next time from somewhere else. They're 2X the money.
Never had it clog up anything and it never over heated or ran hot. The heater always worked fine. It has over 100,000 miles on it now and I've put a lot of stop leak in it over the years. Probably should have replaced it with a brass one a long time ago, but you know, I'll fix it tomorrow when I have more time.
Montana1 you ought to search the recent HAMB post regarding leaking freeze plugs complete with pictures of the havoc it caused. Maybe not all stop leak is created the same. The title of the HAMB post was weird freeze plug problems. The date was 01/22/2020.
I know, I know, I was in a hurry and I didn't look close at the new bottle, which I thought looked exactly like the old one. It just fooled me that's all! I'm with Bill back in post #6, I had to look a long time before I saw it! Funny thing was, even though I messed up big time, and it ain't supposed to work, it ran just fine and didn't run hot or cold or anything. Come to think of it, it stopped leaking too! I couldn't tell it was even in there, except for the slight oil slick on the coolant. I am glad I only put a 1/2 bottle in! I remember back when I was a kid, my Grand Father told me that they used to run kerosene in their radiators back in the depression days, because they couldn't find anti-freeze.
I never had any freeze plugs rust out, but on another motor (that ran rusty all the time) I did have the thermostat rust out and it would never warm up and when it did, it never cooled off. The temp gauge took for ever to come up and just kept climbing to about 225*-230*, but never leaked or puked.
A sheet metal screw and an O-ring works good on a leaky gas tank too! When I was 16 and just started driving, I had a '48 Jeep. Of course, we didn't have any money back then and didn't know anything either. Well, my radiator started leaking and my uncle told me to put that stop leak with the pellets in it, and it'll fix it for you. So, I did - I put the whole bottle in! On my say to school the next day, it was about 10* out and I went about 2-3 miles, and all of a sudden I heard it blow! Steam and anti-freeze was going everywhere! I figured it was messed up pretty bad already, so I just turned around and went back home. I started to take it apart to fix the radiator and I decided to take the thermostat out and check it. When I did, it was completely plugged with those pellets! I fixed the radiator and flushed everything out and it was good to go again. Oh, to be a kid again, things were a lot simpler then!
I know of a guy that used silicone sealer on his freeze plugs and they rotted out fast. I always use #2 Permatex. You shouldn't use silicone for window sealer either, because it draws moisture and rots the metal lip around the glass.
so, from the beginning it leaked, and because you think that you got a lemon with over 10K miles on it you have never had the time & money to just replace the bad one?