Alumaseal

[Nuke]

OK guys, I need a little advice.

The SHO Wagon I bought leaks a little coolant. I think it is the heater core leaking. You can smell it inside the cabin, especially when the heater is on.

Anyway, my dad is bound and determined to put some Alumaseal in the car to see if that solves it. I am not letting him put anything in it until I know it is safe. I have no interest in bricking a 60K original mile SHO motor.

So, what do you guys think? Safe to run it in the car?

 

[SHOVNST]

If he wants to add something, go with a quality product like BG(or equivilent). The engine will be fine.

 

[Nuke]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is BG? A brand name?

My dad is a big fan of the name brand Alumaseal. He has used it a lot and swears by it. Kinda hard to argue since he got over 200K out of the original head gaskets of a 3.8L powered Merc Sable.

 

[broke1]

BG sells a lot of cleaners,additives,and fuel system cleaners to dealerships. Mainly used for dealerships and fleet maintainence. They are a very well known brand......

As for Alumaseal,I've never heard of it but it should be fine to use......I know I've seen a product called Alumaseal at Advance and Autozone.

For a leaky radiator or heater core,u can also use black ground pepper or a raw egg,both will plug holes.

I've never had good luck with any kind of stop leak personally.

Just replace the heater core before the leak potentially screws somthing up.....or bypass the heater core.

I'll bet a new heater core replacment is probably 2x the cost of a single treatment w/ Alumaseal.

I would think if it's got the low mileage you state(under 50k miles) that the problem won't be able to be solved with a "stop leak" treatment but you never know.....

From my reading,I thought the factory heater cores all had the defect of accelerated corrosion where they hoses hook up. My heater core leaks with under 100k miles too....

 

[broke1]

Here's the only cooling system "sealer" I use

http://www.jegs.com/i/ACDelco/065/1...&CAGPSPN=pla&gclid=CMOs2LrakswCFQhkhgodjaoP2Q

I only use them on fresh engines or engines that have fresh head gaskets. I run them at start up and then do a cooling system flush with 8-10k miles.

Don't know if they actually have ever helped head gasket seals but it's good insurance and won't hurt!!!

 

[mph1001]

I wouldn't use it. Just replace the heater core and be done.

 

[pjtoledo]

alumaseal has been around for about 75 years, go ahead and try it.

 

[Irish Pride]

If you are leaking coolant as in needing to add coolant on a regular basis then you probably need to replace the core. My 89 started to smell of coolant inside the cabin 2 years ago but I wasn't really losing coolant. I didn't want to deal with a heater core change so I put Bars Leak heater core sealer in mine. It's the one with the little aluminum flakes inside it. It completely fixed my problem. Smell went away within one day of driving it and hasn't been back since. I would stay away from the sealers that have the pellets in them.

 

[rubydist]

I agree, if its leaking enough that you need to add coolant, you will need to replace the heater core so just do it rather than fail at patching it. Its a pain to replace because you need to pull the dash, but a good day's work will get it done.

 

[TimboSHO]

If you do try to use a sealant, pour it directly into the heater core itself. I have seen too many radiators that have half of the tank plugged from various stop leaks because it just goes right to the bottom.

 

[shobote]

K seal is what I used after a highly reputable mechanic advised me, and I am highly skeptical about leak fix products; tried bars leaks and alumaseal in other vehicles over the years and they only worked fo a short time, and did not fix the leak. My Jeep 5.7 heater core was leaking a few years ago and K seal fixed it, now with over 60k, and sees redline quite often. K seal uses tiny ceramic fibers that harden when exposed to the leak.