bars leaks or forte

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 09 Apr 2007, 13:46

i'm struggling to find a water leak that my 2.1td has somewhere down the back of the engine, i changed a steel pipe yesterday that runs across the back of the engine, a pig of a job only to find that it wasn't that

i'm now thinking that either i should just leave it and hopefully find it when it gets worse, (at the moment its only a small drip every few minutes) or put in some kind of sealer like bars leaks or forte stop leak, i was wondering what peoples thoughts are on using a sealer and which one you would recommend, i've already had a new radiator and heater matrix fitted so if there is a chance that using a sealer will block theses i'll not bother

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 09 Apr 2007, 13:53

Its been years since I tried Bars leakstop - before my Citroen era. But it certainly worked, and no sudden frosted windows the following winter ...

Have you tried the very simple trick of applying air pressure via the filler cap ? An extra cap for drilling in a fitting would cost you less than a liter of coolant ...

Once the pressure valve in the cap is removed (by the fittings inserted) there is no theoretical limit to the pressure you may apply. But you should certainly not overdo it and limit it to the normal pressure of max 1.2-1.4bar. No fun having to replace a burst hose in the deep corners of the dashboard ...

Post by **RichardW** » 09 Apr 2007, 15:55

I've used the Forte stuff on both my Xantia TDs to stop the matrix leaking. It certainly works (it ought to given the price!) and there has been no noticeable loss of heater performance. Both cars, however, dropped their operating temperature to about 70°C (from 80) some time after the stuff was added. Could be coincidence, could not be...

The current one had water dripping from the bottom of the dash which the Forte has held at bay for about 30k miles - it did have a moment earlier in the year where it appeared to be leaking again, but that seems to have sealed up again, so it seems to still be working 8)

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 09 Apr 2007, 16:33

if you are going to try one of these leak sealers,try radweld,seems to be fairly good
regards malcolm

nick · Post by **nick** » 09 Apr 2007, 16:46

There's also one that crops up on ebay a lot called K-Seal. I've never tried it but they claim the repair is guaranteed for the life of the engine.

Stewart(oily) · Post by **Stewart(oily)** » 09 Apr 2007, 16:59

Heres a link to Forte stop leak
http://www.forteuk.co.uk/Radiator_stop.htm
I have successfully used Barrs without any trouble. I believe Vauxhall use it from new, a mate who worked there tells a story about a car coming out of the factory minus hose clips on the top hose, only spotted at the free service 500 miles later, still full of coolant.
Stewart

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 09 Apr 2007, 17:31

i think i'll give anders trick a go first ,i'd like to fix it properly if i can, failing that sealer it is, i've just spoken to someone who worked for a company that rebuilds all sorts of race engines mainly for classic cars and he said they use bars in all the engines that they build, i thought i'd read somewhere that it blocked up heater matrix's but he reckons not.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 09 Apr 2007, 23:03

i belive it the dogy pellet type that block every thing up
regards malcolm

den169 · Post by **den169** » 10 Apr 2007, 16:03

Used both bars and radweld both worked well i would get radweld if possible been around a lot of years.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 10 Apr 2007, 17:42

Somehow I suspect that Radweld has been around since before the Second World War - when cars had thermosyphon radiators and no water pumps. The radiators were about 3ft tall and you could almost put your arm down the radiator tubes!

Barrs is a long established product as well and was certainly recommended by Jaguar in the 50's and probably before - and was used from new. I think its primary purpose was to make sure some of the lovely highly polished alloy water manifolds and other parts were not porous as blue anti-freeze stains rather spoils the effect!

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 10 Apr 2007, 19:55

I would recommend Bars stop Leak . I have used it in the ZX 2 times to fix the heater core and both times OK. Never used the whole bottle, only about half. Kept it in the rad 1 week, then replaced the coolant just as a precaution, to prevent it from clogging anything else.

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 14 Apr 2007, 17:55

Talking about pressurising cooling systems . . .
Last summer I was helping a friend who had a rather badly leaking radiator on her Volvo 740 - anyway, I got hold of an almost new replacement from a scrapped 740 and just to test it, I applied the garden hose to one side and held the palm of my hand over the other side - upon which BOTH the side tanks (which are made from plastic, with small aluminium tags crimped between the radiator core and the tanks) blew off!
I've no idea what the water pressure was, but evidently too much!

//NiSk

Ross · Post by **Ross** » 14 Apr 2007, 18:29

Found this site whillst trawling through the system

http://www.kalimex.co.uk/index.html

looked interesting but I haven't used any of the products

LeeDJC · Post by **LeeDJC** » 14 Apr 2007, 18:29

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned using egg whites!

Seriously though, I have used both Radweld and Barrs Stop Leak in the past to good effect.

nick · Post by **nick** » 14 Apr 2007, 18:57

Ross wrote:Found this site whillst trawling through the system

http://www.kalimex.co.uk/index.html

looked interesting but I haven't used any of the products

Yes, they're the ones who make K-Seal as sold on ebay.

I have known people swear by using egg white! Quite a risk of totally clogging up the heater matrix though apparently.