Radiator Stop-leak-----How bad of an idea?
 

Ive got a small leak somewhere, I lose about a cup of coolant everytime I drive. I just put in a rebuilt radiator, then it had a real bad leak, it was a hose, fixed that, and now its leaking again. I REALLY dont want to tear into that thing again, so Im looking at some stop-leak. My only concern is the turbos, if the lines or passages are small enough it might cause a problem. any comments?

Not a very good one. Pinpoint where the leak is coming from and fix it. You will be glad you did it in the long run. I used a similar product once on my old FC which had a bad coolant seal. The top radiator tank literally blew up a few hours after putting the stuff in.

Long run.... right... see, I want to sell it. I work a WHOLE lot, and have to pay to use a lift and tools. Pretty much all of my time off has gone into fixing this and that. Its to the point where if I sell it, and the new owner goes to change his oil, the staff is going to say "you bought that piece of crap? that thing was in here every weekend!" Im a utterly sick of working on my car. Id just like to be able to drive until I sell it....

Do a search on "Radiator Stop-leak" some people with bad coolant seals will try and hold a motor together for a few more miles.

If your motor is NOT going south. I would fix the leak and not loose your motor.

I wouldn't put that crap in my car.

I've used it and it work just fine to bandaid a problem ...Just follow the directions on the bottle. Also get the one that's for aluminum!

I put a bottle in my car when my stock radiator started to leak just to get by till the new radiator came. No problems with anything else since then, and that was a few yrs ago.

Very bad choice...I understand your frustration with the car and all your hard work that has gone to waste. but these bandaid methods are what gives the FD a bad name. these cars need a lot of TLC and once put back together right and maintained they can be a lot of fun. why don't you get a cheep daily driver and keep the FD until you have more time and money to do things right. I think you will be very unhappy if you sell the car never knowing how much fun a top runing FD can be.
Jeff

Nice, half-ass fix the problem and then pawn it off on someone else :rolleyes:. Get some integrity man, either sell the car as it sits, or fix the problem CORRECTLY and sell it accordingly. Its shit like this that makes buying a car such a hassle.

I think he is trying to avoid doing that to someone. That is why he is asking if it is a good idea or not. Otherwise why would he care?

I would just fix the radiator or put a new one in. I actually just pulled my stock radiator with no problems (put in a koyo). Lemme know if you want it.

Ok. The car was top running when I got it, but between lots of stuff being right on the verge of breaking, and me having one or two "learning experiances", I ve been fixing this thing ever since. Im not gonna lie, some of its my fault, me just being young and dumb, but I learned ad fixed it and that stuff is all good. I would buy a DD but I live in the dorms and can only have 1 car registerd. And as everybody knows, its a bad idea to have to rely on an FD to get you to work and back, especially when your on a single E3s budget... but could you resist buying a Type R with 60K for 4500? neither could I. I love the car to death, but its starting to wear on me. And I may be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them. If I do go this route and sell it, the buyer WILL know about the situation. But thanks everyone, Im gonna go buy a bottle this weekend and hope to god it fixes the leak.