Rick Anderson said:
Thats true of any system on a vehicle. If you really want to mess up a vehicle, blow off fixing the problem and start putting in snake oil additives that promise they will fix the problem by just pouring it in.
The Previous Owner of my XJ needed a new radiator, due to a leak, I am still trying to get all the gunk out of the cooling system from him pouring in cooling system sealant. Its a mess in the cooling system and I'm worried I may have trouble this summer in the heat because everything is so coated in stubborn gunk that doesn't want to come out. Now I have to use harsh corrosive chemical flushes, that can do damage to the water pump and seals to get all that crap out.
Sounds like you need an in line CRUD filter on your radiator!
Here is the link to the current discusion where I found the pdf file, also worth checking into. Their site, like
's, is an excellent air conditioning resource discussion forum for DIY'rs like us.
http://www.autoacforum.com/messageview.cfm?catid=2&threadid=15719
About sealers in general:
I have used radiator sealers with excellant success for nearly 30 years.
I was doing some US DOE grant research back in 1995 when I had a long and most interesting discussion with the head chemist at the Prestone antifreeze formulation department! He informed me that one of the great kept secrets of all car OEMs is that every new car radiator has about 6 pellets of the light brown dry powder/fiber pellets (radiator sealing pellets) placed in them before they leave the assembly plant.:shocked:
They do it to keep the radiators from leaking before they get out of warranty!!!!:shiver:
Also the standard antifreeze formula (for at least 40 years or more, and maybe 60 or more) contains sodium metasilicate which when it dries polymerizes into a permanent water insoluble silicate glass. Concrete cement is made of sodium, magnesium & calcium silicates. The sodium metasilicate is water soluble at a pH above 10 (most antifreeze formulas are above 10 pH, some new borate formulas are around 8 pH, but they are new critters). Below a pH of 10 it begins to precipitate. If one adds hard water to antifreeze (instead of DI water), the calcium in the hard water reacts with the metasilicate and forms calcium silicate scale which is basically in laymans terms concrete (with out the sand) cement.
The dry fiber pellets are themsleves OEM approved (since the OEMs use them) and are harmless to the system. If a leak forms the fibers leak into the initial hole slowing the leak, the metasilicate wets the fiber(s), dries and seals the leak with a fiber/silicate cement composite that stops and seals the leak before it grows.
The problem you are having is caused by the prior owners failure to change the antifreeze after about 4 years of use (the pH drops due to acid formation over the years resulting in metasilicate precipitation). Even worse (and probably your situation) is when a leak developed they added hard tap water and turned all that silicate into concrete scale on the inside of the coolant system. Good luck getting that out. Concentrated HCl acid eats concrete very slowly, but it eats iron and copper and alumium a hell of a lot faster!!!!:shiver:
Anyway, I have used the pellets only (plus antifreeze) since then and avoided buying a new radiator for as much as 5 years, before finally buying and replacing the radiator. In that five years I lost less than maybe 3 quarts of mixed antifreeze by using the pellets.
The only problem I have had in that 30 years is recently with my diesel jeep radiator cap not refilling the radiator from the overflow bottle (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, one of those when it wants to gremlins) when it cooled down overnight. Just had that radiator cleaned and the leak in the head fixed. Planning to flush her next and see what happens.
I have also never in 30 years (I had over 400,000 miles on my '78 Dodge 360 V-8), had a water pump, or water pump seal go bad (at least not one that I recall...anymore :banghead
