GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
Hasty review of
I did some research, including BITOG, very little write-up, comments on using after-market "magic in a bottle" to fix a leaking heater core. I did find ample writeups on fixing a leaking radiator with magic and a bottle, and to my surprise, a decent percentage as favorable.
The reviews on Amazon are very favorable for Barrs Leak and also K-Seal. I take these reviews with a grain of salt as I know many reviews are in fact fake.
I went with K-Seal only because it was more expensive than Barrs. Barss was $9.99, K Seal 14.99. The Navigator does not offer a way to get into the radiator, and I didn't like the idea of using the coolant overflow, so I noticed the heater hose had a patch in it, so I simply opened up the patch, drained out an ample amount of coolant from the heater hose, poured in the K-Seal.
Drove for about 15 minutes, no longer getting the smell of coolant in the cabin, and the windows no longer fogging up. Let the Navigator sit overnight, took her for a 1 hour drive this cool morning, no fogging of windows, no coolant smell in the cabin. I have no idea how long this will last. I will do a coolant flush in a month, I will be OCONUS for the next few weeks starting Thanksgiving.
Pleasantly surprised. And for note, Prestone sells a flush hardware kit for about $4. I don't want the kit to flush coolant, but it is a great item to cut a heater hose and install a coolant sealer, all parts are in this $4 kit.
K-Seal ST5501 Multi Purpose One Step Permanent Coolant Leak Repair, Blue
Background- discovered I had a very likely heater core leak in my 2004 Lincoln Navigator. All the usual suspects to include windows fogging up and sweet smell in the cabin while the heater was being run. I did a quick check on a heater core replacement on the Navigator, and discovered do it yourself open heart surgery is easier than replacing the heater core on a 2004 Navigator. OOA 2015 I replaced the heater core on my youngest Son's 1998 S10, and the job wasn't bad but one needs a real good back to replace the heater core on the S10.I did some research, including BITOG, very little write-up, comments on using after-market "magic in a bottle" to fix a leaking heater core. I did find ample writeups on fixing a leaking radiator with magic and a bottle, and to my surprise, a decent percentage as favorable.
The reviews on Amazon are very favorable for Barrs Leak and also K-Seal. I take these reviews with a grain of salt as I know many reviews are in fact fake.
I went with K-Seal only because it was more expensive than Barrs. Barss was $9.99, K Seal 14.99. The Navigator does not offer a way to get into the radiator, and I didn't like the idea of using the coolant overflow, so I noticed the heater hose had a patch in it, so I simply opened up the patch, drained out an ample amount of coolant from the heater hose, poured in the K-Seal.
Drove for about 15 minutes, no longer getting the smell of coolant in the cabin, and the windows no longer fogging up. Let the Navigator sit overnight, took her for a 1 hour drive this cool morning, no fogging of windows, no coolant smell in the cabin. I have no idea how long this will last. I will do a coolant flush in a month, I will be OCONUS for the next few weeks starting Thanksgiving.
Pleasantly surprised. And for note, Prestone sells a flush hardware kit for about $4. I don't want the kit to flush coolant, but it is a great item to cut a heater hose and install a coolant sealer, all parts are in this $4 kit.