You guys give Stop Leak such a hard time. It's nice for smaller leaks. I used it on my Camaro when I first got it and haven't had trouble since. Then again, I did follow the directions...

 

Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone, but I've used stop leak before with fine results. The stuff I like (and never had a problem with) is the Alumiseal powder flakes in a tube. Tried that Bars Leaks brown sludge before, but it was a pain to break up and dilute the pellets that are at the bottom of the bottle. No doubt, some who have had clogging problems most likely didn't read those directions, and poured it straight from the bottle into the radiator, lump chunks and all.

 

Secrets safe with me. Haha. I use the aluminum stuff from Bars Leak. I honestly don't even remember where it was leaking when I put it in...but it worked. Now the head gasket repair in a bottle I wouldn't think twice about.

 

The reason I give the stop leak stuff a "hard time" is because of the thousands of dollars of repairs I have done because of it. I have seen people ruin engines because of a thermostate housing leak. I have seen old school hard to get radiator so plugged up they could not be repaired cost effectively. I have seen low miles engine descarded because of the cost of dissassembly and acid tank cleaning that was needed. So maybe if I had not seen all that you could convince me the stop leak stuff was "not bad" but at this point that ship is long gone. You are always, always better off fixing the car right.

If you follow the direction AND you do not already have some form of blockage already started it MIGHT not hurt anything or it could cost you 20 times what fixing the car right would have costs. I don't mind a gamble but risking $1200 worth a damage to avoid a $60 repair is just not good odds.

 

I agree Gorn, some people have no business laying a finger on a car when they can't use common sense about the product they're using.

 

I can understand where you're coming from Gorn. I just feel like most of the people I've talked to at work that give it bad names is because they didn't follow directions. I've even ask a few and they said something to the effect of "directions? Don't you just dump it in?". Most major stuff I would probably replace rather than repair.

 

There's a saying that goes, "when all else fails, read the directions".
Unfortunately, if you apply that philosophy to radiator stop leaks, you will have problems.
That Bars Leaks product with the pellets on the bottom will cause problems if you don't use it correctly.
So I can see where these "stop leak products will clog your system" warnings originate from, stupid people who think they're smarter than the directions.