Coolant system sealer

[turbohunter]

Hope you know I didn't mean that aimed at you Len.
Just trying to get it straight in my own head.
When folks I respect say they use it and Ford uses it.
I start a thinkin' (bad idea ).
When I was younger I had always heard it used as a stop gap fix.
I had heard that it indeed plugged a rad or two and had it in my head because of that to not use it.
But it seems that the talk lately is that it really does help.
I have zero experience to base conclusions on with it.
Sounds like some products work and some don't.
My non familiarity with it is why I DID take my engine back apart.
I'm actually glad I did. I learned a lot.
In my case it was good to look.

[Lenz]

No Marc, I didn't take it that way at all.  My third run with the torque wrench was in no small way partly because of what happened to yours.  I grew up hearing pretty much the same things, figured sealers were a bad choice or stop-gap measures at best.  Tech has come a long way though, seems like there's lots of good stuff out there.  The winner in this case was AlumAseal, it got a nod here from rcodecj and it was on the shelf at my local Advance Auto Parts so I snagged some.  Fired it up and ran it for 30 minutes, bottom of the tin was dry this morning . 

I've used Bars-Leaks in every day drivers over the years and never had trouble, but clearly others have had issues so I figured I'd steer clear this go-around.

[turbohunter]

That's great it worked.
Good luck.

[Lenz]

Thanks.  Make no mistake, my next order of misc. from Summit is on the fridge.  Moroso ceramic is on the list just so I've got it on the shelf.  If it does start to weep again I'll try that next after a drain and flush.  The thing runs too good to take apart .  I don't have the dreaded signs of coolant and oil mixing either, way easier for me to choose what I did.  If I had the indicators you had I do not believe I would have even considered sealer. I followed along with your investigation and the comments here, I think you did the right thing, what you had to do .

[cammerfe]

Final comment regarding Bars-Leaks.

Mother's milk causes drug addiction! 100% if you include the new-fashioned formula. You see, all drug addicts started out with formula or Mother's milk. So one MUST cause the other.

(Or perhaps one has nothing to do with the other. A heater was almost no good and when it was examined there was B/L in it. 

KS

[Lenz]

Point well taken KS . 

Just to follow up, I believe I found the source with some great lighting and relentless pursuit.  No thinking out loud this time either Doug so I don't envision Chevy block freeze plugs in the rear of an FE while thinking up possible leak sources lol, that still stings a might.  I bought my block fully prepped so that step was not in my memory bank. 

Since everything is fresh and clean I figured there'd be at least a minor stain.  Found one about 1/4 of the way up at the intake/head interface at the right rear, discolored sealer and slight trace pattern below.  Probably got in trouble bumping the intake around a bit to best fit Dizzy, even though I used the best motorcraft sealer, prob'ly not enough.

Anyway, in the end I'm glad 'cause I have somewhere to look if I have any more trouble and I can also pull and reseal the intake if I need to.  Way better than head gasket problems for sure.

[cjshaker]

Len, I was racking my brain trying to remember where there was water in the back of the block...lol! I figured there was something obvious I was forgetting. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time

Glad you found the spot. Hopefully the sealer will work, but like you said, at least it's not internal and an intake re-gasket isn't that big of a deal if it doesn't.

Mother's milk causes drug addiction! 100% if you include the new-fashioned formula. You see, all drug addicts started out with formula or Mother's milk. So one MUST cause the other.

KS

Ken, now that is funny.

[Cyclone03]

I have had a constant coolant loss from day one with my Ed headed stroker. Not a leak on the floor but a constant loss from the recovery bottle every 500 or so miles of freeway driving. On my 3000 mile round trip 2 years ago I added about a 1l bottle after my first over night stop , then again in CA. then the same on the return. I top it up with about 10oz or so every 3 days here at home.
Well I created a hole in the radiator about 3 months ago and trying to be cheap I tossed a bottle of Aluma Seal in it ,after about 30 mins of garage running it stopped leaking. I drove it to work and basically the alum tube just continued to split. I replaced the radiator. Now having added another 300 miles with what ever amount of AlumaSeal is still in there I no longer lose water from the recovery bottle.

BTW I had a good idea how the water was getting out, I have staining on the block at the head junction and no water in oil. I did retoruqe the heads but still the water creep.   

[64gal500]

Now if they would come up with a miracle product for oil leaks.

[Lenz]

Good to see, another possible plus report on the AlumAseal.  Time will tell on the "permanence" of such a fix, but really, around here all you need to do is make it to November then suddenly you have about 5 months to re-gasket if you need to .

Yep, no miracle fix for oil leaks .  I'm happy to say I don't have that issue, but now I'm chasing a driveline vibe so that's another thread-

[65er]

fkn driveline vibe! Chased mine for a year and a half, think I finally got it worked out after replacing um, the entire drivetrain...  Will be interested to see and chime in on your driveline vibe thread.

[machoneman]

I've used Alumiseal (TM) or very similar look-alike aluminum or copper-flaked metal products when needed for a long time. Truckers and OEM truck engine makers use it and I figured why not? It does work great unlike some other stop leak products. Haven't needed to try Moroso's sealer but it also comes highly recommended by many.