Okay, so last night when I'm cruising home from the Padres game, some jackass drops a bottle out his window, and it bounces up and hits my new aluminum radiator. Well, to not make this too long, it hit perfectly and left a couple of holes in the radiator.

I called some local shops, and they said just buy a new one - I'd end up spending more than $150 bucks in time and effort to repair the thing, and none of them would guarantee the work they would do on it, because it's aluminum.

Anyhow - I want to go to a PRC setup, with electric fans, but I don't want to fork out the cash right now.

So, I pinched the holes shut as best I could, and JB Welded them shut. After the JB weld set, I filled the radiator and cooling system back up, but noticed I still had a pinhole leak, so I drained the system again, dumped some more antifreeze and Bars Leaks in there, and topped off with water, fired the thing up, and voila, the leak had stopped completely.

Now - before anyone goes all hyper because I used Bars Leaks - I'm planning on replacing the cooling system and the motor - I just don't want to do it right now because this is my daily.

So - hole is fixed, and everything is honky dory. Well - I used to have a small problem with the coolant temperature creeping up when I was stuck in traffic, or at stoplights, mainly because I don't have a fan shroud. Anyhow - ever since I fixed the leak, I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. The head temp stays nailed at 200 degrees, and the coolant temp at the intake stays at 160 when I'm cruising, and 170 in traffic / stopped. Solid. Needles don't hardly move. I shut the car down, and all the temps go up, so I know the gauges are working good.

What I want to know is, did I inadvertantly plug something up that was a problem before? Like, is it possible I was getting an exhaust / cylinder leak into the coolant, and plugged it up with the Bars Leaks?

I was shocked when I noticed what was going on....

Possibly the Bars Leak closed off a T-Stat leak..???

Or maybe just a different mix of water/coolant was enough..??

Maybe it's just a sign that that motor dosen't want to leave that engine bay and will do anything to make you happy :D

How would closing off a T-stat leak solve whatever problem I had with the overheating? I'm not asking facetiously, I really would like to know since I don't know a whole hell of a lot about the cooling system. It's always nice to have someone older and wiser than you explain things to you than it is to learn the hard, expensive way! tongue.gif

Thanks for the response! smile.gif

And yeah, I hope that motor does want to sit in there for a while. I've got the suspension and steering to rebuild prior to redoing another motor.

The t-stat opens and closes as the water reaches temp. If the stat stays open all the time, or has a leak-by, theen the water can't stay in the rad long enough to cool down, and thus steadily rises.

A proper working system allows the stat to close and open in intervals long enough to cool the water in the rad before allowing it back in the engine.

Besides, it was just a guess ;) probably something else all togeather smile.gif Good luck with it just the same graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Wow, yeah, I guess that makes pretty good sense. I didn't really think about the dwell time for the coolant in the radiator. Crazy.

Some wise person once said... you learndeded something new every day... and whoever they were, they were totally right!

Thanks again!

Nothing wrong with Bars Leak, it is a good system conditioner. I have it in all my vehicles and use it in all the new motors I have built. Just don't use the silver or copper colored powders they will clog up heater cores and radiators.

it does seem highly unlikly plugging some of the rows to your rad. would make her run cooler, that's not it, if you pull your thermostat it will control low end heat, but top end will not be cooler unless it had always been unable to open complety. sounds like a work in progress, a head gskt. should have had compression in the rad. blowing coolent out the overflow if it was part of your overheat prob. good luck....