head leakage

[Anonymous]

I have an 84 Westy 1.9. I am finding coolant on my garage floor.  I have checked for leak location and it is the rubber head gasket.  I have seen a Bars  product at the auto parts store that claims to repair this problem.  It requires draining the cooling system, flushing out all of the coolant, filling with water and this Bars product, running, then draining and allowing to sit over night.  Then refilling with 50/50 antifreeze.  What do you think?  Has anybody tried this? Will I damage the cooling system?

[Anonymous]

DO NOT PUT THIS STUFF IN YOUR BUS!!!!! Very temporary at best & will definitely plug ya up in the long run.

[Anonymous]

it will stop the leak along with everything else. do not use .

[Anonymous]

I investigated further and discovered a loose hose clamp that after tightening completely solved my "head problem".  I have driven Vanessa about 800 miles without any coolant issues.  And, I didn't gum up my cooling system with stop leak products

[Red Baron]

I've used Bars-leak with decent results in many different cars (and Vanagons) for years without any damage.  Although, the Bar-leak stuff I use is a brown liquid with little pellets in it and you could just add it when the cooling system was low. I never drained, flushed and then added the stuff.   I managed to prolong the inevitable for about 6 months (through the winter) using Bars-Leak in my 84.  <br><br>Head gasket leaks seem to show up more in the colder months of winter.  Mostly because of the contraction of the dissimilar metals when its really cold. <br><br>An old German guy told me to try pepper to stop leaks too.  I did, it didn't seem to work very well.  Although most of the pepper ended up in the bottom of the coolant tank.