Stop-Leak: Good or Bad?

i was browsing around my local autoparts store replacing a gas cap that i had lost for my mom's car when i saw this stuff that was supposed to seal radiator leaks. hmmmm. since i have several leaks in my water cooling system now (obviously it's not done) the wheels started turning.

i looked into it a little more and found that this stuff is actually made for cooling sytems for cars.here's the link for the stuff i found. it says it will not clog up a heater core, in fact it will fix leaks in a heater core. that sounds like some awesome stuff to me. you can leave it in the loop and its supposed to help with corrosion and rust and it will stop any leaks that may develop. sounds like a miracle additive to me. but there must be some reason it's not being used in everyone's system.

i couldn't find anything about it in the forums with a quick search, but it sounds like a wonderful thing. i've always thought it would be better to seal from the inside rather than the outside anyway. what do you think?

jungle

if you just bought your stuff, and its leaking, return it

Depends on the formulation, I believe some have Silica compounds that clump up to plug those leaks, others just have small particles that adhear to the area leaking and eventually seal the hole, again by plugging it up. might not be a good thing in a computer cooling loop.
There are some stop leak compounds that stop leaks in hoses by infiltrating the material and swelling it. again not a good idea.

Honestly...none of the "stop leak" crap is good...they are good for a quick fix...but shouldnt be ran for more then a few days...some of the crap can actually hurt the good parts and then end up costing you more in the long run...not good for autmotive radiators and definetly not good for a computer system...

i neglected to mention that i have an all copper tubing setup. i jb-welded it all together, but it was tough to get every joint sealed up.

i googled bar's leaks and water cooling and found a couple of things at procooling. no one every really came out against it. one guy said he would swear by it, but he never said he'd actually used it in a computer wc system. i've read the faq about Bar's Leaks (excerpt):

RHIZEX, when saturated with a high-quality water soluble oil, shrinks to 85% of its natural size. Each Rhizex particle is only half the size of a grain of ordinary table salt! To guarantee consistent quality in formulation, the Rhizex Particles are precision-ground and then 'PELLETIZED' for packaging convenience. When Bar's Leaks is added to the cooling system, the pellets quickly dissolve under heat and circulation, releasing tens of thousands of individual Rhizex Particles which continually circulate in suspension throughout the entire cooling system. Bar's Leaks should never be confused with ordinary Stop Leaks often tried as a quick patch under emergency conditions.

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says it also will lubricate the water pump seal.... is that a good thing?

Lubrication Of The Water Pump Seal and elimination of water pump "Howl and Chatter" is readily controlled through regular preventive maintenance applications of Bar's Leaks. ...

Cooling System Rust And Corrosion may produce "hot spot" engine damage often resulting in major engine repair and occasionally complete engine replacement! Bar's Leaks inhibits rust and corrosion with a special cleansing and buffing agent that continually scrubs away corrosion while repeatedly lifting and re-depositing thin emulsions of protective water soluble oil throughout the entire cooling system.

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i am really tempted to try this out. haven't found a price though. it specifically says that it won't plug heatercores. the newer jet-impingment blocks or microchannel blocks may have a problem however. it sounds like it would only work for a guy like me with exclusively copper tubing and an older block. but for that, it sounds like a godsend.

jungle

I worked in automotive and took vocational for 3yrs in HS for it...and I can tell you...that the people that swear by it...do not know what that crap really does to their/your system...your best bet would be to talk to your local radiator repair person and see what they say and have them show you some of the rads and hoses (if they still have any around their shop) and what they look like after running that crap for awhile...

Like I stated above...its good for a quick fix only and never should be ran for more then a few days at a time...

If your heatcore is leaking and you can not RMA it...have your local rad person fix it for you...this would be the best way...plus they will do a pressure test on it before they give it back to you for any leaks and such...

Any stop leak stuff clogs up a car rad like crazy. This is not to tell what damage it would do to a computer watercooled system. Stay away from it unless you want to trash your system. The fact that you have not found it mentioned in the forums should tell you something. And as far as jb welding copper together, you are wasting your time. Copper really needs to be soldered, although someone has told me that there is a new copper glue of some sort that is out that ACE hardware is supposed to carry, although I haven't verified this.

this stuff says it's designed not to clog the rads though. and i couldn't solder the copper b/c all the components needed to be in the case and they would have burned up if i'd stuck a torch in there. ha ha.

jungle

The problem with stuff like that is that it is not made to run in a WCing setup for a PC where the orfices are so small. Yeah it may work as a "stop leak". But it could also end up being called "Stop Pump" or "Ruin pump" or even "Stop Flow". Take the time to fix it right before it ends up costing you a lot more then a few dollars and your time. Also keep in mind that a car runs a lot hotter then a PC so it may end up not even working at all and all you end up with is some abrasive glitter circling through your system slowing tearing it apart.

that stuff is thickening agent with lots of tiny bits in it, and maybe the magical "stabilizer" or two...
an old timer mechanic friend of mine ( older than dirt, but a "treasure"" of knowlege) actually uses 1 medium sized pinch of sawdust instead. says its easier on the components, but that could be a depression-era myth as well....
edit: refering to automobiles.

I wouldn't put in my system. I'd also find a way to solder those joints or connect the few that can't using a short piece of tubing and 2 hose clamps. Why did you use copper tubing instead of vinyl or chemical tubing?

better heat transfer?? or bmaybe once its fully leak proof theres less of a chance to spring a leak. other then being harder to put together and being much heavier it isnt a bad idea

small dimensions would have probably kinked the tubing. microatx case...lnk i'm fairly convinced that there was no way to solder the fittings. i may try it anyway just to be obstinate and a guinea pig.

i also like copper b/c its rigid and i always worried that i would hit the plastic tubing while i was working in the case. i dunno. wanted to be different too.

jungle

i hit a tree stump cut low doing 25mph in 4"of snow and it hit my frame and stopped me cold! pushed in the steering wheel with my chest and slid the motor and trany into the radiator twisted the cab on the frame of a 66 fordf150. after chaining the motor down i used needle nose pliers too pinch and fold the part of the water channels on the rad that were cut open, drove to a gas station with the rad cap off so there was no pressure adding water every 15 min to keep it full. when i got to the nearest gas station 75 min away i found alumna seal put it in and in 5 minutes no more leak's drove it for 5 years after that no leaks.

with that said DONT USE IT IN YOUR PC my windows never defrosted rite since as it will coat the entire system with whatever there using to seal, not only will it cause restrictions in your whole system the rad will not transfer heat as well.\

i would pull all the jb weld off and solder everthing you can if possible.

patching leaks is just wrong in a pc unless you want to blow your set up in the future

I have seen a couple relatives of mine use it(in cars) and to complain afterwards that thier heaters stopped working or worked like crap.... so its clogging up the heatercore. I would not use it at all.

With copper tubing though you should be able to measure precisely and get an accurate solder job. Also you can bend copper 1/2" tubing slightly if you need to using a pipe bender and it won't restrict flow. I'd make sure you get the proper solder jobs. Even using some sort of compression fitting may work better.

' i have an all copper tubing setup. i jb-welded it all together'

WHAT? Show some pictures of that.

like i said, i would have loved to solder it all together. but it had to go into the case in the end. i could have done some soldering in part of it, but i was kinda lazy, even though it would have been really easy. i figured i would have to jb weld a good bit of it anyway because the angles are a little weird and i didnt want to solder everything together only to have it not fit in the case. i feel like i'm not explaining this very well. anyway, now that i've done the jbweld, i'm pretty much stuck, unless somebody knows a way to get it all off. i wish i had soldered one of the parts that is leaking b/c it would have done a much better job.

now that i think about it... everything screws at the end of the tubing and i could just cut a couple of places and unscrew it all. but that leaves me with the original problem that, even if i could get all the angles right outside the case, i still cant solder with the waterblock and pump attatched. ill look into that compression fitting. that may be the answer.

a lot of thinking out loud here. i guess that the stop-leak is a little to risky to chance. that's very disappointing .

jungle