Bar's stop leak

Bacho

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I could have sworn this was covered in a thread before but cannot find it.

I have a recent acquisition of a 100 series Landcruiser with 339K on the clock and a bad head gasket. It's unknown to me how fast its losing coolant, but I have steady steam from the oil dipstick. Once warm, I am not seeing steam out of the exhaust. I also have low oil pressure that doesn't quite come up to normal when held at high RPM. So to me this engine is done, but I would like to put some miles on it to check out the rest of it before I commit to swapping out the 4.7.

It seems on these snake oil products that I haven't got much to lose in this case other than a possibly clogged heater core. What does first hand experience say?
 
No personal experience but I’ve read and watched videos people trying out the product and supposedly work as advertised depending on the actual failure.

Why not try it as long as you’re okay with replacing whole cooling system and engine later on regardless if it worked or not?

And change oil if you haven’t. Old dirty oil can cause weird low oil pressure, or put in thicker oil.
 
I used K Seal on my 6.0 LS plow truck. It stopped over heating once used, so I'll say it worked.

1740406088833.jpeg
 
***RD said:
I used K Seal on my 6.0 LS plow truck. It stopped over heating once used, so I'll say it worked.

1740406088833.jpeg
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Ive used that before and it worked great. Ot didnt clog anything it wasnt supposed to.

The blue devil one is another tried and true product as well
 
1oddtech said:
Sounds like these newer stop leak products are better than the ones from the 80's and 90's. Don't forget putting pepper in your radiator as a stop leak.
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I remember helping my Dad one day, probably early 90s and he sent me up to the house to fetch the pepper shaker.

"I need to make it sneeze"... I thought my Dad was going crazy till Al Gore invented the internet and I came across the "old farmer trick" tip one day 🤣


Truck is still around, on that same radiator so guess it worked well.
 
Another vote for K-Seal. Worked great on a 2006 ram with the 4.7, which is known for head gaskets going out. Been 25,000 miles since I put it in and no problems with anything being plugged in the cooling system. The head gasket leak has stopped and has not returned.
 
Is the oil milkshake or still black on the dipstick? Could just be condensation steaming out at the start.
 
Ranchtruck said:
Is the oil milkshake or still black on the dipstick? Could just be condensation steaming out at the start.
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Oil looks OK.

I did buy Truck on running with possible head gasket issues. I had read online that head gasket issues on this engine were rare.

I initially thought the same thing about condensation on starting. I probably had it up to temperature for at least an hour now and the steam shows no sign of slowing down. I also noted that somebody appeared to remove the thermostat.
 
GM made a stop leak pellet specifically for the porosity issues in some of the Cadillac engines. I’ve used it several times with great results

… I’ve also stopped at the only open fast food restaurant in Compton on Christmas Eve and put ten Taco Bell pepper packets in my 22re and then drove back home to Colorado with a heavy trailer

… and that same radiator is still in the truck …

Probably should get around to doing something about that :laughing:
 
If you already know it's ****ed, a bottle of "Fix all your problems" is worth the $20 risk.
I have used that K-seal in some crap cars I have with all positive results.
 
I used bars on my zuk when the radiator got a pin hole in the bush. it worked, got me home but had to replace the rad, water pump and flush the whole system afterwards. probably same price as a tow would have been.
 
RusM said:
Isn't there a heater hose that goes bad on those that mimics a bad head gasket? PHH or something?
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Heater hose T's are plastic and after time are brittle, can fall apart while driving and you lose your coolant....
I did mine as PM and one of them basically crumbled on removal; didn't think to do the radiator as PM but a year later the plastic tank cap cracked. Damn plastic parts only lasted 20yrs/240k
 
Eggs are too expensive now its cheaper to use a man made product. :flipoff2:



These AC Delco tabs are the best thing I have ever used for leaks. I had a Z that would leak half a gallon per week. After a couple tabs I never had to ad coolant again for the several years I owned it after.

I had a friend with a Mack dumptruck that would lose a gallon per day and he couldn’t find the leak. He put a few packages of these in and had the same results. It never leaked again.

Amazon.com: ACDelco GM Original Equipment 10-108 (12378255) Cooling System Sealing Tabs - 4 g (Pack of 5) : Automotive

Buy ACDelco GM Original Equipment 10-108 (12378255) Cooling System Sealing Tabs - 4 g (Pack of 5): Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
 
KungFooMASTA said:
Eggs are too expensive now its cheaper to use a man made product. :flipoff2:



These AC Delco tabs are the best thing I have ever used for leaks. I had a Z that would leak half a gallon per week. After a couple tabs I never had to ad coolant again for the several years I owned it after.

I had a friend with a Mack dumptruck that would lose a gallon per day and he couldn’t find the leak. He put a few packages of these in and had the same results. It never leaked again.

Amazon.com: ACDelco GM Original Equipment 10-108 (12378255) Cooling System Sealing Tabs - 4 g (Pack of 5) : Automotive

Buy ACDelco GM Original Equipment 10-108 (12378255) Cooling System Sealing Tabs - 4 g (Pack of 5): Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
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That's what the general consciences was in the last thread on the subject.
 
I would absolutely bypass the heater core before I put that **** in there.

I have a 100 in the shop right now that was overheated, temps went to the moon and warped both heads like 3x the repairable spec according to my machine shop. They think it got hot enough to anneal the rings and recommend a full teardown or junkyard engine.

I ordered a complete OEM engine gasket kit for it before I knew the heads were trashed. Owner doesn't want to swap the engine and wants to sell it cheap instead. Let me know if you want the gasket kit, I'll send it over for whatever I paid for it. It was around $300 I think.
 
How would the oil not be milkshake if the headgasket was leaking into the crankcase? I think the steam you're seeing is a red herring. The PCV vallve may be clogged up and just not sucking out the normal crankcase vapors.

Ive had the plastic radiator top tank crack and mist coolant out under pressure when the engine got up to temp. "Fixed" it by wrapping a bread tie on the radiator cap center vent so it could never build pressure.

You could borrow a coolant pressure tester from a parts store and pump it up to check for leaks.
 
You could borrow a coolant pressure tester from a parts store and pump it up to check for leaks.


This...and put a thermostat back in it.
 
I’ve got a PCV valve, thermostat, and some of those tablets on order.

The heater hose mentioned before is called the PHH. It does look like it’s a problem on these, but doesn’t give the symptoms that I’m concerned about.

I’ll report back
 
Bacho said:
I’ve got a PCV valve, thermostat, and some of those tablets on order.

The heater hose mentioned before is called the PHH. It does look like it’s a problem on these, but doesn’t give the symptoms that I’m concerned about.

I’ll report back
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That is on 1FZ engines only. All it is is the heater outlet and steam port on the back of the head that people forget to change because they can’t see it. Dudes on the internet just gave it a cute name
 
Well, I decided the steam I was chasing is blow-by. I found it starts immediately on a cold start. The oil being blown out does look like milk shake, but the dip stick looks fine. It doesn't appear to be using coolant or over heating. Long story short I think I am still looking for a motor.
 
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