Radiator Stop Leak Additives
Reader Question
Hello I have a 1993 Mercury Topaz and its been leaking and thermostat has almost entered the red spot or hot spot, I did take it to a mechanic and he said it was the seals close to the water pump but it wasn’t the water pump.
He said it would cost about $260 to replace and I don’t have that kind of money at this time, I’ve tried , I know not wise , but old stop leak, i had for a year never opened, anyway, is there a temporary solution of a stop leak till my next payday, about a week Or the best brand of stop leak, thank you
Hello there
Those stop leak additives just don’t work very well on seals and rubber parts. They do seem to work a little for radiator leaks, but I don’t think you have an alternative…except stop often and refill with water so it does not over heat.
For a radiator “pin hole” sized leak I would recommend BARS Leak Stop additive you can buy from any auto parts store.
For a headgasket leak I would recommend K&W Engine Block Seal….more about that on my head gasket repair page.
Blessings,
Austin Davis
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Filed under: Fluid Leaks
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i’ve got a leak in a water pump seal on my 89 ranger with 300k miles on it. it seriously leaks like a siv. due to the lack of time to fix it myself, i’ve just been adding water every day. i made a quick $20 scrap run yesterday and went to the local autozone to look for a temporary stop leak solution. paid around $7 something for a bottle of the radiator stop leak with the aluminum flakes that was supposedly good for seals too. followed the directions and it said to add half a bottle for 4cyl engines without a/c and treat engines up to 4 gallons. well, i have a 4cyl with a/c and looked it up in my haynes manual and it said that my engine holds 7.2 quarts of coolant with the 2.3l and a/c – which is just short of 2 US gallons (4qts to a gallon, 3.78lt per gallon). so i added just over half the bottle (there’s about a third of the bottle left), filled the radiator to full and let it run for a little over 20 mins, even though it said run it for 10 to 20 mins. after about 8 minutes the leak in the water pump stopped dripping and it was holding water in the overflow. i’ll probably add the rest of the bottle later this week just to be sure. i think it’s a great temporary fix, won’t know until i start driving my truck tomorrow.
Hi,
We have had a steady and slow leak in our radiator, and we decided to try Bars Heavy Duty Stop Leak. We have already put the product into the coolant resouvior of our 2006 Volvo. I think we were supposed to put it directly into the radiator. What do you think will happen? Will the pellets pass thru to the radiator from the resouviour?
Thanks,
Cecil
Yes the pellets will dissolve and make their way through the cooling system. I have not had much luck with additives on LEAKS but have had success with radiator additives on SEAPS. Its worth a try but you will probably need to replace the radiator.