On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:36:13 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:




Hi,
Tried some sealant from auto parts store?
Bar-leak something like that.

Yeah, I did try BarsLeak and it seemed to work great. But that was a
week or two ago. A couple days after I added it, the level was just
as high as when I put it in (which is funny because even when there is
no leak I seem to lose some in the overflow bottle.) Tonight, I
noticed that even though the engine was a lot hotter than normal, one
or one half index mark from the top of the scale, there was no heat
coming from the heater. No heat is a pretty clear sign I have less
water than I should (Maybe half as much as I should is my guess). So
when there is daylight, I'm going to find out whether there is a leak
or not, but I'm pretty sure there is. Oh yeah, I opened the hood and
in the dark saw some signs of water on the radiator.

Even if perchance, it's not leaking, the question still interests me,
so I asked tonight.


I used the metallic version of Bars Leak, not the original version
that looks like rotten black peas, so Andy, I have a feeling the
ALUMINA stuff would be similar to what I used.

Maybe I'll try it anyhow, but I don't think it will work and I think
I'm going to replace the radiator. In warmer weather I would just
carry 2, 3, 4 gallons of water with me, to make sure I can always get
home (One time in an area that had no gas stations, I ran out of water
so I even drove up someone's driveway and asked for some, which they
were happy to give me, from the garden hose. They were sitting on lawn
chairs at the end of the driveway by the house, so I knew they were
home. Although if I were really desperate, I would fill my bottles
from the garden hose or garden faucet even if the people weren't home.
That's the kind of world I grew up in, where that was ok, and I assume
that's the way most people still feel.) But I have a 2800 mile trip
coming up in March. I'm only taking some tools and I'd rather do the
repair before I leave than on the road.

Mail order, off the web, the radiator is about 105 dollars. I'm
curious whether it will be more or less at the stores around here.
I'll find out tomorrow. Any predictions?