Best radiator stop leak??

[56oliver]

Was having the conversation with one of my buddies the other day. Obviously not a permanent fix but what do you guys prefer and what have you had good luck with?

 

[rrlund]

AlumaSeal. I've tried K-Seal. The race car guys swear by it for sealing up leaks in head gaskets,but I never had any real luck with it for radiators. It's a liquid that just looks like AlumaSeal in water.
I've ruined radiators with AlumaSeal though. It'll plug the tubes if you use too much,so if it starts leaking again after one tube,it's best to take it somewhere and have it fixed right or you'll be paying for a complete re core.

 

[carvel minne farmer]

a good rad shop! take it out and get it fixed, anything you put in the rad is going through the engine as well. I get welders in here that guys have put bars leak, leak stop, even pepper! and it's a pain getting it all out of the engine. I have found a really good rad and engine flush and it still takes hours to flush all the gunk outa there.

 

[Russ from MN]

Barr's! And for a small leak I consider it permanent, I have seen it work for as long as we own the vehicle many times, and I mean years!
Many new vehicles come with some sort of stop-leak in them from the factory.

 

[Hay hay hay]

I've had good luck with Barr's Leak.

 

[old]

Bars-leak copper is real good and so is the bars-leak with the black pellets in it. I used it in my 1965 Ford 1 ton after my wife ran into the tractor I was pulling it with because I got it stuck. It has no brakes so instead of pushing in the clutch she just kept coming when I stopped the tractor and I used the bars-leak and that was years ago

 

[LA in WI]

PEPPER!!!!!!!!!

LA

 

[rrlund]

Mechanics tell me that stuff's more for water pump seals than it is for radiators.

 

[rustred]

the best luck i have is a rad shop. tryed a few things like bars leak and silver stuff over the years and nothing works other than R+R the radiator. those magical stop leaks just plug up rads and heater cores and in the end costs more to fix.

 

[fixerupper]

My son poured pepper on the radiator of a Farmall b and it worked! I used silver seal in a John Deere a with a leaky head gasket and it held for a couple years. One winter I was working the snot out of it and the silver seal let go big time, anti freeze came raining down out of the sky, but it held well till then.

 

[ohiojim]

local radiator shop here says DIKE is best he ever used

 

[dr sportster]

Please don't use pepper . I used to blow into the radiators to check my solder repair and would always get my mouth burned from pepper residue.

 

[cuby]

A radiator repair man told me to use Mendite. Have been using that ever since with darn good luck. Get this at CARQUEST.

 

[4520BW]

I'll second pepper!

 

[teddy52food]

mendite is my favorite too.

 

[Russ from MN]

Yes, it's an excellent water pump lube! I worked for a JD dealer that put some in every new piece of equipment because he said he had a lot less problems.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Do they still make Bars Leak with the black pellets?

Used to use it a lot, and it generally worked good, but haven't seen it in years.

 

[old]

Last time I got some stop leak they had the bars leak black, aluminum and copper side by side on the shelve and that was in O'Reilly's

 

[CKain(MI)]

Yes, they make it with the black pellets. If you put it in modern car, it plugs up the heater core ! ! The silver powder is better. BUT, I would go with other the products listed here now.

 

[YprDave]

I've never used anything that goes inside the radiator, just leery I guess.
I used a radiator/gas tank epoxy on a '78 Bronco with a pinhole in one of the cores. Ran it 13 years without any issues before selling it.

 

[SVcummins]

Justice brothers it used to be green but not it?s
brown like bars leak but it?s a lot thicker

 

[DeltaRed]

'Dike' by Conklin.it is amazeing.Best I've seen(or used)

 

[DeltaRed]

Dike doesn't plug.It all comes out when you drain the radiator.I've used it for years.

 

[Brown Swiss]

I agree! If you need to run it just keep adding coolant but fix it soon!

 

[jimg.allentown]

The best stop leak is none at all. Fix the problem and be done with it.
Stop leak products not only stop the leak, they clog up radiators and heater cores in the process. In an old tractor, it may not make much difference, but in most modern vehicles, it is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Most cars and trucks require removal of the complete instrument panel to access the heater core. Once it gets a taste of stop leak, there seems to be no amount of flushing that will stop it from continually clogging up.
There is NO SUBSTITUTE for just doing a proper repair in the first place.