My Camaro has another internal combustion leak, the 3rd w/ this 15 y/o remanufactured engine. I really don't want to spend any more $ on this engine b/c of its history and age. A mechanic recommended a specific internet-based product called, Liquid Glass Stop Leak, but I can't find it. I see the term liquid glass used generically for the active ingredient, sodium silicate in many of the stop leak products. He recommended Blue Devil as an alternative & this product is available locally @ Advance Auto. I know that most frown on these mechanic-in-a-can remedies, but I it might buy me some more time. Any other suggestions?

Waterglass! Sodium Silicate.............

I used to get a quart from a Drugstore in Mom's town when I was younger.

I'd flush the cooling system several times to make DARN sure it was clean, then pour it in and fill it up and then put a big piece of cardboard over the complete rad. and driver her easy for like 5 miles or so or until she got good and hot!!

Then shut her off and let her sit over night and then start her up the next day completely full of water and look for any signs of bubbling! If there wasn't any signs of bubbling, I'd drain her and flush her out several times and then fill her up with the needed coolant mixture and go!!

Mine lasted like a couple of years until it broke loose again on two defferent engines!!

The key is to make darnn sure the cooling systm is flushed CLEAN b/c waterglass will react with antifreeze and create mess!!!

And fwiw, this is about as "shade-tree" as it get's, but it works fine!!

pdq67

1974TypeLT.... Are you talking about a head gasket or an intake gasket leak?

Not sure where the leak is emanating from, but it failed the reagent test.

I talking about sealing cracked heads!!

My cracked heads have always luckily OR unluckily leaked into the chambers so blew right out my tailpipes!!

pdq67

I assume these products are indicated for cracked heads, although CRC's K&W Nanotechnology Permanent Head Gasket and Block Sealer, does not mention cylinder heads in its name. It's about 1/3 the price of Blue Devil, which retails from $60-65.

I had a cracked cyclinder wall to simular last year

Yep, used to get that at the drugstore too when I was a kid. It was used for preserving eggs actually if I remember right. We'd use it for any kind of cooling leak and it usually worked. No flush, just poured it in and good to go. Don't remember if it was long lasting or not. Probably not. Worked better than black pepper though. :D

I learned that trick with sodium silicate (liquid glass) working in a shop when I was a teenager with big diesel truck motors.
We never drained or flushed them and it always worked with a leak in radiators and most of the time if we had a truck with a cracked head.
These trucks were not babied either they were used for industrial work in the steel mills in nortwest Indiana.
I had an 81 Vette years later that developed a leak in the radiator in 2 places so I got the motor up to operating temperature then poured in some of the sodium silicate, replaced the radiator cap and left it run for aprox 20 minutes or so then checked and the leak was fixed.
I had planned on this as a temporary fix until I could pull the radiator, I ended up selling the car a while after that, the guy that bought the car used it as a daily driver for 4 years then sold it and I ran into the last owner aprox 2 years ago and it still had the same radiator in the car 12 years later with no leaks and no overheating issues according to the new owner and the guy that bought it from me.
Hope this helps

Silver,

Thanks for the encouraging account. Do you think it matters which brand of sodium silicate (liquid glass) product I buy, since the Blue Devil is $60 vs CarGo @ $7? The installation directions are pretty standardized for all the sodium silacate products.

I just went to the pharmacy and asked them for sodium silicate, it came in a glass jar. If I remember it was about a quart.
Dont remember it being very expensive.
By the way you dont need to use the hole jar, if I remember right I used just under half in the Vette.
Hope this helps

If the container was a qt, how much did you pour in your radiator?

I have used aluma-seal in the past with excellent results. Comes in a tube the size of a roll of quarters at any parts store. Works for radiator leaks and minor head gasket leaks.

the K&W block seal is the same basic thing. available at car quest and napa. works well if the crack isn't "dime sized" in width. that's gonna take some serious crack repair pins if so.

I'd use the whole quart!

pdq67