Bar’s Leak vs Blue Devil. 85 Eldorado

[danjarrett1]

Well.....it’s confirmed, leaking head gasket, not loosing coolant but contaminating my coolant with exhaust carbon. Have never believed in “mechanic in a bottle” but until I have the time to pull the heads, tear down the engine and more.....have been considering using one if the head gasket repair solutions. I know it’s not a long term solution, but I can’t imagine it would do any harm. Any suggestion on which solutions yields the best result?

[danjarrett1]

On second thought, I think I’m just going to add the AC Delco coolant tablets that are recommended for the car. As I understand it, these tabs are organic fibers that help seal minor leaks throughout the coolant system, including the heads presumably. Who knows, might work!

[SixDucks]

 I would bypass the heater core prior to treatment. You may induce a blockage and the have to replace the heater core.

Terry

[danjarrett1]

That’s a good point, for the time being....I’m going to run it a while with distilled water and the recommended AC Delco coolant tablets....if I decide to move forward with a head gasket repair solution, I’ll take your advice....it just goes against everything I k ow to put that stuff into an engine.

[SixDucks]

 Many years ago in the middle of winter, I found myself 3 hours from home with a cracked cylinder head. After adding 3 gallons of coolant and 2 bottles of Bar's leak I was able to limp my truck home. I did clog the heater core and had to flush it thoroughly to clear it. The Bar's leak held for 6-7 months before failure occurred again. I needed to buy a little time while I built a fresh engine so I used Moroso brand Ceramic Seal for use with antifreeze that eventually failed after 4 more years of absolute brutality. How much abuse could the little Chevy tolerate? Turns out, Alot! I decided I wouldn't install the new engine until a had another failure. Ultimately I replaced the truck and the new engine still hasn't been installed.

Terry

Terry

[James Landi]

Mr. Jarrett,  Alas nothing you put in the cooling system will block up a leak in the gasket, and any magic cure will ultimately do much more damage.  Try running the engine WIthOUT the cap on the radiator-- this will allow the combustion gasses to escape and will also not STRESS your radiator, heater core and hoses. If you're using the car for short distances this winter without the radiator car on, you'll get by all right-- just carry antifreeze.  Alas, I experienced a similar problem with one of my 4100 Eldorados, and I managed to blow out one of the seams in the radiator because the compression simply kept building faster than the radiator cap would allow for a purge.    James

[danjarrett1]

Wow! I really don’t have a huge pressure system challenge at the moment, for a while, after a hiway drive, goes would escape through the coolant reservoir. That has abated fortunately. I don’t have an overheat situation, going to drive an monitor. This is a hobby car anyways, just enjoy the challenge of bringing it back to life. If I get motivate, and when the weather warms, necessitating a remedy, I may just pull the engine and take my time for a complete rebuild.  Thanks for your input

[Dave Shepherd]

The original  use of the "ginger root" tablets was to seal the cylinder sleeves, not to effective under more than 15 psi cooling system  pressure.

[cadillacmike68]

AND it is a factory item in early 80s cars up to now, the crushed walnut shells / ginger root tabs, aka barsleak. It should Not clog the heater core if not overused.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Exhaust getting into the coolant stream is not type of head gasket defect the sealant additives being discussed here are an effective remedy.

Need one of the more advanced kits with ceramic materials. One is called Thermagasket which involves a multi-step process and sells for around $150 and is specifically designed for Northstar engines which normally fail in the same manner ie, exhaust gas entering the coolant system.

I wouldn't waste any more time or money on cheaper alternatives which are likely to do more harm than good.

[fishnjim]

Best solution is not drive it until you can fix the head gasket.   Anything else is secondary.

If it was coolant side (coolant in oil), then Bar's leak is effective for coolants system leaks, but as you say the exhaust is entering the coolant.   How it works is the coolant flow needs to be in direction of the leak, so the "cloggers" can enter, bridge, and and seal off the "hole".   So it won't even enter where it needs to go in this case.   So it's clearly the wrong application.