Coolant system Sealants

[Henry Cloutier]

Hello to all!
Has anyone had experience using sealant tabs in cooling systems? The radiator in the Z is leaking and there is only one radiator shop here in town and their best guess to repair (if possible) is about the same as replacing with a new unit from Camaro Cantral. While it would be nice to have the original stay in the car I'm not sure I want to give the shop that kind of money for a maybe good radiator. I have heard of these different sealants with mostly positive reviews and would like to know what you all think.

best regards,

Hank

[camaronut]

Don’t use those sealants.  Fix or replace the radiator.  Those sealants do more harm than good.

[Z10Mike]

Some of those sealants can work their "magic" on the heater core as well.  As in completely blocked. 

[Henry Cloutier]

Thanks for the replies! I've never been a big fan of additives so your opinions pretty much align with mine. New radiator it is then!

Best regards,

Hank

[KurtS]

I'd repair. I like original parts vs repro.
And realize that all the OEM's put a little pill of stopleak (ginger root) in every cooling system. Helps enormously with warranty claims.

[cook_dw]

Yep used the GM tablets many times and work great for a tiny leak.  But as said. Pull the radiator and have it repaired.

[Henry Cloutier]

I'll research the repair option further. Perhaps the shop was confused about repair pricing versus replacement cost.

Thanks you all!

[Sauron327]

I have used Glen-Ray Radiator to recore radiators and heater cores. Sometimes he has Harrison cores in stock. Had two local shops butcher a job. Big difference in repairing a radiator and restoring one. I found him by using that google thing. T^ook a couple seconds. I've posted this info on this site before. We had a radiator shop attached to our bodyshop so I know the difference between quality work and garbage.

[MO]

How original is your car? If it's mostly original, re core the radiator and put it back in. If your car is modified or originality is not important, buy a new radiator and store the original for later use. Additives can be problematic, but I never had issues the couple times I needed an emergency fix; and they did the job.

[Henry Cloutier]

As best I can tell the car is still mostly original, but I don't have any prior maintenance info/log. I would like to keep it as close as I can within reason of course. I'm heading to the radiator shop here on Monday for a face to face rather than the previous contact which was by phone. Given the shipping fiasco happening these days I'd rather stay local if at all possible. I have seen the Glen-Ray name in prior posts; do they have a standard turn time?

Thanks,

Hank 

[firstgenaddict]

I have had a number of radiators done at my local shop and have had people send in radiators to them as well. Last was a 69 COPO chevelle rad and a 71 vette big block Air con rad. new cores using the original tanks and rails $600 on the chevelle rad they hammered out tank dents and silver soldered a few pin holes in the drivers side tank for the $600.

Augusta Road Radiator
Phone: (864) 277-2928
Address: 3488 Augusta Rd, Greenville, SC 29605

[Henry Cloutier]

Thanks for the info! The original is still out of the car and needs more repair than the local shop here can perform.

Best regards,

Hank

[David K]

Replace it, have a competent shop repair it and store it in the box the replacement came in.

[Henry Cloutier]

Makes sense to me.

Thanks!

Hank

[KurtS]

But that undermines the originality of the car. It doesn't make the car more original if the original parts are somewhere in a box.
And you then get to store the second radiator.
Just get the rad repaired.....