How bad of an idea is this....

[scientist_bob]

I have a small leak in the radiator ('99 wrangler, 4.0L) and was thinking about adding one of the "stop leak" products...

How bad of an idea is this?
Does it work?
Any preference on brand.

Thanks in advance.

--Mike

[rider_1313]

please don't, i just spent 3 hours with my friends car, cleaning and flushing his coolant system. we had to put a new thermostat, and take all the hoses off, and dump out the crap out of the over flow tank. all because of that stupid stop leak ****.

just find the leak and fix it. that stuff is not a fix, it is a temp messy patch.

[major]

Bob

may have some bad news for you.

TJ's have a composite radiator, Plastic tanks with a Alum. core , they are crimped together in a sealant. If the leak is at the upper or lower tank joint your SOL ,they just can't be sealed to last.

The good news is RadiatorBarn.Com . For about $175 you can get an Brand new upgrade all Copper three Core , shipped in 24 hours to your door.

It's as bolt in and easy to do even with air cond.

A new replacement from Jeep will be $400-500
and it will be the same composite time bomb that came OEM.

[dillonjm]

Yeah, those stock plastic capped radiators are kind of junky. I'd just get a new one if it's leaking, the one Major mentioned seems to be a good choice.

[mrbeerbaitnammo]

Stop Leak is great its as good as a gaping hole in your head.... go with a new radiator, look on Ebay and other places, stay away from the plastic crap, a new radiator isnt that expensive unless you go with the aluminum ones like griffin or Be Cool those ones are rather pricey

[hard core XJ offroader]

yea stop leak is a head ache. it sucks, find the leak and fix it or just keep dumping water in it or anti-freeze if your in a cold area. its best to run a mix though

[OhioYJ]

Ok, well I'll go against the grain, while a stop leak isn't a permanent fix, it will get you by for a while. Like already mentioned, it won't really help if its where the plastic tank and aluminum meet, it just doesn't seem to work that well there.

The horror stories I hear, are from people who have neglected their cooling system for years, and have added multiple doses of leak stop, everyone else is fine. I work at an AutoParts store, trust me that stuff flies off the shelf faster than I can get it in around here.

Neither of my Mustangs could keep heater cores (I think the torqueing of the motor was killing them), replacing it required removing the entire dash and steering column, I replaced a total of 4 heater cores, each time adding leak stop would get me by roughly an extra year before I had to actually fix it.

[HotRod YJ]

I have used stop leak successfully in horizontal flow copper/brass radiators but I will never use it in vertical flow radiators and it wont work in plastic anyway, not sure on aluminum. here's the theory. Stop Leak has solids in it. Using it in a horizontal flow rad's, the excess solids can settle in the bottom of the tank where they wont cause any problems. Worst case, it may plug the bottom couple of rows, but that's it. If you put this stuff in a vertical flow rad. the solids cannot settle to the bottom without first melting and going down thru the cores. Often times, this will clog many of those tubes and then you've got alot more problems than you started with. I've never had any issues using it horizontal old style rad's.

[kwrangln]

How small of a small leak is it? If its a pinhole, just use some pepper, it should work till you can get the replacement.

Lots of doublewide ways to stop a rad leak, from pepper, to an egg, soldering if its in a metal spot, to using two part epoxy. I've done them all, even the barsleak, and the barsleak was the toughest to clean up afterwards.

[kwrangln]

How small of a small leak is it? If its a pinhole, just use some pepper, it should work till you can get the replacement.

Lots of doublewide ways to stop a rad leak, from pepper, to an egg, soldering if its in a metal spot, to using two part epoxy. I've done them all, even the barsleak, and the barsleak was the toughest to clean up afterwards.

[scientist_bob]

Figured that overall the stop leak wasn't that great of an idea.... Thanks for all the info, the leak is at the upper joint. Guess I will keep adding fluid until I can get a new one.

Thanks Major for all the good info, guess time to go RadiatorBarn!!!

--Mike

[scientist_bob]

Went and looked and they have two for the Wrangler...
(1) 2 ROW ALL METAL REPLACEMENT for $136
(2) 3 ROW HEAVY DUTY ALL METAL REPLACEMENT for $161

I'm assuming that the 3 row is the one that I want....

linky: http://www.radiatorbarn.com/s7.asp?ac=Y&year=1999&make=JEEP&model=WRANGLER&submodel=ALL+MODELS&engine_size=ALL+ENGINE+SIZES

[OhioYJ]

3 ROW HEAVY DUTY ALL METAL REPLACEMENT for $161Yeah thats the one you want, few dollars more, but better cooling.

[Knuckelhead]

There's been a lot of discussion about 2 verses 3 row with the same fin density and what cools better. I'm starting to understand and believe the 2 row reasoning. Maybe a few others can speak up with their opinions?