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radiator additives

by induction1, April 30, 2004



as i understand it, some manufacturers add stop leak to their radiators on the assembly line. true? does toyota do this? is it ok to add just to have it there and what brand works the best? what about "water coolers" like water wetter and so on? i sometimes drive in death valley (steep roads, hot!, a/c, etc.) is it ok to put 100% water in the radiator and add a bottle of this stuff? they say it's better than mixing any coolant. any other thoughts? thanks

As far as I know - nobody does this is any more. Manufacturing techniques and better quality control make adding certain additives unnecessary or harmful.

Usually you should not need to add this stuff - if you need stop leak, you should fix the problem right the first time and repair the damaged component. These types are products are more of gimmick than anything else. Sure they might plug up that small hole in the radiator - but what of the cooling passages in your block? cylinder head?

Water coolers works best will de-ionized water. They are ideal for race engines which need the ability to shed extra heat. They can work with a mixed solution of antifreeze and water - and some have seen big decreases in temperatures (as much as 30 degrees F with pure water).

Unless you have overheating issues while driving through hot climates - I wouldn't bother at all with adding anything to your cooling system.

The main reasons for mixing water and coolant together is for increased thermal conduction, corrosion resistance, increased boilover protection, and lower the freezing point. Run just plain water and a water wetter may be good for a race track - but less than ideal for around the town driving and highway use. The thermal flexibility and range of a good water and coolant solution is why most cars on the road use that.

Plus most modern cars are tested in very adverse temperature ranges as they are being designed - if they really needed a water wetter or temperature modifier - then they didn't do their job right.

g'day,

just a useful hint, always top up the same brand of coolant in ur radiator to prevent chemical reaction which will ultimately reduce the service life of ur radiator. instead of mixing concentrated ethylene glycol w/ tap water, use distilled water to prevent mineral build.

rey t

Guest mike-s

What the others have said is true, there is no way they would put stop-leak in new cars, that would cause the engine to run hotter due to a less efficient heat transfer, and risk blocking water holes in the block &/or radiator. If you are in a position to need stopleak, use it to get you by (say for a couple of days until you can get the car (or just the radiator) to a radiator specialist for them to seal the leaks and redo the brazing (and perhaps replace the end-caps.

If in doubt, flush the radiator & engine and start again. I prefer to use premixed glycol/distilled water, it can be picked up from any auto store for only a few $/litre. When i flushed the radiator of my motorbike when i first bought it, i could have sworn that someone had piled a fistfull of mud in there it was that filthy. It took a couple hours of flushing the radiator, putting rust disolver in, running it, flushing it, new coolant, etc etc etc before i would try putting new clean coolant in.

apologies, i got a bit off track, but no, stopleak=bad.



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