In my new buggy I ran the coolant through the chassis to the back where the radiator is. I welded in a plug on the inside of one of the frame rail tubes to prevent coolant from getting into a part of the chassis that I didn't want to get hot. (Simply because I would be touching it often.) Well, I didn't get a perfect weld on that plug and now coolant is getting into the portion of tubing where I don't want it. I'd just live with it if it weren't a high point in the system. As a result, it is acting like a huge air bubble, blleding air into the system over time and causing me to have to bleed the air out every now and then.
My buddy has a bunch of hot-rod friends who use some sort of bronze head gaskets on all their engines. They say that the bronze gaskets don't seal very well and the first thing they do to their engines before starting is pour some K&W Metallic Block Sealer in the radiator. They say it will fix nearly any leak and I thought that sounded ideal for me as the plugs I welded in are no inaccessible unless I cut the frame in half.
So I went to the store and found the K&W stuff, but it is suppossedly completely incompatible with any type of coolant. I'm guessing the hot-rod guys aren't even using coolant because they are just leaving the stuff in. But my buddy says that he has used it in the past with coolant with no ill effects.
I'm personally not going to use it unless I drain my system and put just water in and do it right. But I really don't want to drain it at all to be honest.
Along side the K&W stuff there is the typical variety of other brands thata ll claim to do the same thing, some in different ways, some in the same way. None of the metallic sealers are compatible with coolant. Some claim to be able to just poor in with your coolant and never worry again.
So does anyone have any experience with any of this stuff? Is anything besides K&W worth a damn? Will I be wasting my moneyw ith anything that doesn't require me to drain my coolant?
Furthermore, I've seen some of this stuff completely destroy radiators by clogging them. Is that what happens when you use the non-coolant-safe stuff with coolant? My buddy claims that he's running the K&W stuff with his coolant right now and he has no ill effects.
J. J.
My buddy has a bunch of hot-rod friends who use some sort of bronze head gaskets on all their engines. They say that the bronze gaskets don't seal very well and the first thing they do to their engines before starting is pour some K&W Metallic Block Sealer in the radiator. They say it will fix nearly any leak and I thought that sounded ideal for me as the plugs I welded in are no inaccessible unless I cut the frame in half.
So I went to the store and found the K&W stuff, but it is suppossedly completely incompatible with any type of coolant. I'm guessing the hot-rod guys aren't even using coolant because they are just leaving the stuff in. But my buddy says that he has used it in the past with coolant with no ill effects.
I'm personally not going to use it unless I drain my system and put just water in and do it right. But I really don't want to drain it at all to be honest.
Along side the K&W stuff there is the typical variety of other brands thata ll claim to do the same thing, some in different ways, some in the same way. None of the metallic sealers are compatible with coolant. Some claim to be able to just poor in with your coolant and never worry again.
So does anyone have any experience with any of this stuff? Is anything besides K&W worth a damn? Will I be wasting my moneyw ith anything that doesn't require me to drain my coolant?
Furthermore, I've seen some of this stuff completely destroy radiators by clogging them. Is that what happens when you use the non-coolant-safe stuff with coolant? My buddy claims that he's running the K&W stuff with his coolant right now and he has no ill effects.
J. J.
