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I expect this subject to generate negative responses, but does anyone
use or approve of this product to control relatively minor cooling system
leaks? I have a five-corvette friend who has used it for years with no ill effects and good results. Have also heard of it being used in new vehicles. Thanks.
I have used it in the past, and it stopped the leak. However, when I went to drain the radiator a year later, nothing flowed out of the drain valve. I had to take off the valve and poke a rod up into the pipe nipple and radiator to get it to start draining. Some of it could have been other cooling system trash, but the majority looked like Bars Leak solids that had settled out. I wonder about the posiibility of the solids bridging off and plugging some of the radiator tubes. I also wonder about the effect of those solids on the pump seals.
I have not used it in a Corvette but about a year ago I sprung a leak at the WP and block interface in my Dakota 318 pickup. Because of business reasons I could not fix it right away. I put in the Bars leak and it stopped the leak. However I noticed it ran hotter. When I did get around to fixing the leak I had the radiator flow tested. It was down to 12 GPM versus 25 when new two years prior. I had it cleaned and got back to 22GPM. The moral of the story is there is not free lunch. If you need it, use it but be prepared to pay the piper later. Just my experience.
I prolonged the life of the radiator in my '65 Vette by twenty years with the stuff. Didn't run hot. Didn't leak either. After twenty years with it in there, I found it necessary to do something to stop the seeps so I added another can. Didn't work this time.
Had a '79 Chevy pickup blow out a heater core in '81. And I mean blew! I was miles from nowhere, but only a mile from where they sold the Barr's. Dumped in the large can, filled with water and drove off. No leak. Later, refilled with anti-freeze and when I sold the truck (after an engine change) ten years later, the heater core still didn't leak.
Like Chevy, all new Fords go out the door with a similar material added to the cooolant. It stops up only when it hits atmosphere.
did you use the thick liquid stuff in the can or jar? i use the dry brown pellets in the plastic tube is what the use at the factory and what they sell at the GM parts counters. i have used it my race engines,snowmobiles,dirt bikes and quads and have never seen any deposits in any of those. i have been told that it is ground up ginger root.
I don't know if Bar's Leak is the same material as the GM product, GM #3634621. The latter product is used in new GM vehicles and is specified for installation whenever the coolant is changed. This product comes in the form of a "pellet" and the contents of a consumer package, 6 pellets, are to be installed at cooling change. GM is very emphatic about the need to install this sealant and even cautions in the owners' manuals of some vehicles that failure to use it can invalidate the engine warranty. Although I was loathe to use such a product for years, with the "instigation" provided by the GM warning, I started using it religiously.
Having spent 37 years in both GM and Chrysler assembly plants, and in several European plants as well, I can confirm (with Mike) that every new car assembled by the Big 3 (and by most European assemblers, incuding Mercedes-Benz) has two Bar's Leaks pellets dropped in the cooling system at the coolant fill operation in order to eliminate any tiny pinhole-or-smaller leaks at connections that could cause minor seepage or warranty complaints. It works, when used as directed, with no ill effects.
I think it was Tom DeWitt who mentioned on The Corvette Forum that he read an article in a
trade rag that talked about a possible compatibility problem between Bar's Leak and Dexcool.
Of course, there's a lot of bad press about Dexcool out there.
I've been using it on my cars for about six years now, and the only thing I've noticed are a few cases of seepage at hose connections, which I corrected by tightening the clamp or removing the hose and cleaning the mating surfaces.
I think Dexcool might be a little more suseptabale to minor seeps than convention inhibitor antifreezes because of its lack of dissolved solids, but does anyone know anything about this potential imcompatibility with Bar's Leak?
The folks with 1996 B-bodies have loads of problems with Dexcool and the pellets that were installed at the factory. On those vehicles there is a flow retractor in the heater circuit that plugs up. Some have solved the issue with a good flush, but most have gone to "green stuff" as a solution.
Once again the problem is when coolang level gets low and air is pumped through the system turning the pellets into a mud like substance. These systems must be kept full.
It's beginning to make sense. The TSB on the issue blames the problems
on low coolant level, but says nothing about the plant adding the Bar's Leak
pellets. Could be that the combination of low coolant and the "early"
pellets led to the clogging and corrosion when Dexcool was first plant installed begining in '96.
I checked the Bar's Leak web site last night and they claim that the current product is compatible with all antifreezes - green and orange, but there
appears to be only one product though it is available in several forms and packaging methods.
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