i just put Bars stop leak in my radiator and it looks like its fixed a pretty bad leak. Do you guys think this stuff will hurt my ranger? So far I've driven it several places today about 60 miles ,no more leak, and it seems to run fine.

 

It can clog things up inside the engine and radiator, though I guess it's a litte late to tell you that now.

Give it time, the leak will reappear...the stuff is a band aid for the problem, nothing more. I'm actually rather surprised it worked.

 

I used the stuff before as an emergency repair to get back home. Surprised me I made it. I had over a hundred miles on the highway to go. But the next day I had to fix the leak in the core plug that was leaking. Make no mistake, that stuff will plug up a radiator.

 

this is where a good stedy hand and some glazing material works great. a little heat from a torch and some glaze rod.

Matt

 

You are going to want to get that stuff out of your cooling system just as fast as you can, it's bad news trust me.

 

thanks for the feedback yall , i guess i better drain it. as far as glazing is it called glazing and is it at autozone or a plumbing supply store? my leak looks like its in the side seam somewhere i may be able to coat it with glaze.

 

which kind of stop leak did you use? Many many people have used it with good success without having issues afterwards.

 

i used Bars heavy duty stop-leak, buffman.
well, when i went to drain it out an hour ago , it had allready clogged my drain plug, i had to crank it up to build up heat and pressure then it finally started draining out.

 

They should OUTLAW that kind of cure in a can... it's like pouring metal shavings into your cooling system (o wait, it IS)

Ruins the water pump (mines on its way out), cloggs the heater core (burr), and ruins the radiator...

Get the cooling system flushed MULTIPUL times, and do not ever use the crap again...

I had to replace a $160 radiator, along with the heater core, heater lines, t-stat, and flushing the system 5 times...

just replace/repair the radiator next time, keep adding water depending on how bad the leak is. Allways use distilled water with cooling systems, especially if you've got hard water...
~Nate

 

I used the clay like stuff that comes in the tube on the ranger, cause I noticed a small leak on the pass side of the radiator. I was loosing heat the other day, thought maybe bars leak stuff clogged up HC. I flushed it with 120psi of air pressure and nothing came out but coolant, and some slight brown stuff.

I dont recommend it to anyone either. I just figured for the winter car, ehh.

On a side note, most of it was flushed out later that night, when I was washing the car off at the car wash and wondered why there was smoke rolling out from under the hood. Turns out the alternator had been working the upper hose to death, and finally got a hole in it. Looked like it had been doing it for awhile (prolly was leaking and causing me to loose freaking heat). Got it home just as the water temp gauge was rounding out to 250.. Couple that with AZ selling me a POS upper radiator hose that didnt even fit (completely wrong bends) I didnt have a good day On a side note I used some zip ties to pull the hose a little further away from the alt, and used the old hose (cut to lenth then cut in half) as a hose protector :!!!

 

why cant i ever remember to reuse old parts like that "old hose cut in half"

 

You can look forward to a big surprise down the road once you've used miracle fix in a can and it's gonna be much more eventful than a plugged heater core or slowly plugging radiator. Carry extra water with you in the summer, not for the radiator instead but for you to drink while walking alongside the road on a sizzling hot summer day.

 

I would never put that ***** in my engine. Problems like that are why i have AAA Premier.