Bars Leaks experiences: success or failure?

This recent posting got me thinking:

Originally Posted by leonardke

I see you recommend this quite frequently on the site. Is this really a possibility? I only have a small amount of white smoke and rough idling, along with some misfiring. Seems like it may not be a very bad problem, but then again this is my first bimmer. I've always been told those quick fixes are temporary and may lead to more issues which may be bigger. Anyone else got any input? I also read about something called steel seal.....any input? Just seems too good to be true to solve a $1200 problem with an $8 dollar bottle of this......

Given the number of cylinder head and head gasket problems posted here, and the resultant repair costs, I thought it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried Bars Leaks as an alternative, either temporarily or possibly as a longer-term solution.

I'm not interested in arguments pro and con, which tend to devolve into dogmatic diatribes. I just want to hear from people who've actually tried it and what the outcome has been.

Here's the most recent report I've seen:

Originally Posted by Kelley71

The bars is fine. No fluid loss what so ever. I think I had a high place on the deck because the leak was fixed in less than 5 minutes once it started to circulate.

I drained that stuff out this weekend when I changed a rear heater hose. But I am satisfied with the result.

I used Bar's Leak on a Cadillac Catera that developed a leak that turned out to be a crack radiator in an obscured location. It did not even slow down the leak. FWIW, after I found the leak I tried a Permatex rad repair patch kit, twice. That did not work either.

Later on, the Catera developed a head gasket or cracked head leak; exhaust gas in coolant, but oil circuit intact. Tried Bars again without even a hint of success. What did work for about 6 months & 10k km was this stuff
http://www.rxauto.com/index.htm
The leak then recurred & I scrapped the Catera; any repair was going to be more than the car was worth. In fairness to RxAuto, by the time I found their product the leak was pretty bad. I could go through a gallon of coolant in 50 to 100 miles. Results might have been different if I'd given it the treatment sooner, or if I hadn't used Bars Leak first.

What I particularly didn't like about Bars Leak was the black gummy layer that accumulated in the expansion tank and plugged the small vent hose between the tank and radiator (same design concept as the BMW M54). I always wondered if more of this grunge was plugging small passages in other locations of the cooling circuit. So bad that I replaced the tank before trying the RxAuto Thermagasket.

FWIW, after my Catera experience, I worked with an exGM engineer who told me that the brown stop leak tabs were effective on small leaks at seals and gaskets. He had been involved in testing them & vouched for their effectiveness. They are GM approved. But GM never found anything that they would approve for cracked rads, head gaskets, blocks and other large leaks. An interesting factoid: the stop leak tabs are make from ground walnut shells.

Regards
RDL

It works great!!

My wife's 328i has a head gasket leak on the out side rear corner, car overheats and looses fluid. I wanted to wait for a low mileage engine to come in, so in the meantime I added the Bars gasket fix. 2-1/2 months & 400 miles later and no more overheat and no leaks. The coolant is still green with copper flakes floating around, the tank is clean with no black goo.

IMO this is a good temporary fix.

We do have a low mileage engine now so I am going to swap it out in the next few weeks.

I used it in my VW; no way in hell I'd put it in my BMW.

Originally Posted by bmw_n00b13

I used it in my VW; no way in hell I'd put it in my BMW.

I am curious as to why one would use it in one car and not another?

Haven't had to use any of those products in years, but back in my high school days there was a product called Porter Seal that came is a small can, white and red I think with a pic of a seal on it.
It was a powder with silver specs in it that melted and filled in the leak. It always worked for radiator leaks, never had a head gasket leak so I can't say it would work for them.

Used Bars and Porter > 25 years ago on the Fords - seemed to work temporarily - likely improved now. I would not use these on any car now. No quick fix fluids for me - fix the problem.

Originally Posted by Joe@Bavarian

I am curious as to why one would use it in one car and not another?

I didn't care about the VW by then; the BMW I would like to keep driving until the floorboards disappear. It also didn't work very long on my VW, because there was a hole developing the size of my thumb. Fix the problem, not the symptom.

I had a small valley pan leak that only showed up in the winter when the temps were below 40 degrees or so. I added a very small amount of Bars Leaks when I changed my water pump and it sealed the leak up entirely. It's been 4 years with no further leaks.

I only used about 1/8 of a bottle for fear of clogging the radiator up but even that small amount was enough for such a small leak. I used the standard Bars Leaks, not the head gasket fix type.

Steve D

I keep a bottle of Dike from Conklin and a roll of self fusing silicone tape in the trunk(along with many other things) on long road trips for mending the cooling system in all my vehicles. I hope to never have to use them with my vigorous maintenance schedule but using either and limping home/to a shop is often better than being stuck who knows where and waiting on a tow. As for why I chose Dike, I have found it's much easier to rinse out of the system later down the road than some of the stuff I've had customer's use.

Hi Bob
This member had lots of luck with Bars
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=46

I didn't know this thread existed when I opened this one today:
-> E39 (1997 - 2003) > What is Bar's or Rislone Stop Leak or Head Gasket Fix and what does it do in your E39