Coolant leak...

Anybody used Bar's Leak Head Gasket Fix?
My friend buys for resale cheap cars with problems, hence the word CHEAP and has used twice a product for repairing internal cooling system leaks including cracks in aluminum heads like on Soobooroos, the stuff works but costs around 50 bucks.

bars leak

Even though I'm not a fan of additives there was a time when i was a kid when i had no money to fix things like leaks. I have used some bar leak products and found them very effective. Bars leak for radiators is one that comes to mind that worked good. I will also admit to being to lazy to tear apart the wifes grand cherokee and fix the leaks in that like a trans leak, water leak ( its a jeep thing and I under stand) haha. Anyway I have tried other brands of leak inhibitors and they are not as good as bars leak. I always found it worth the money.

That stuff is JUNK and only serves to further clog the cooling system. It is snake oil at best - There is no cure in a bottle!

Also - If your friend is buying cheap cars with major problems like that, then doctoring them up for a quick resale to an unsuspecting buyer, then he is pretty damn low. Not cool at all...

Have I used it? Yes, but.........

At best, the 'mechanic in a bottle' is a bandaid fix, and somebody knows it. This stuff is made to plug holes, it won't care where they are in the system, it just plugs holes. It will settle out and plug rad cores, heater cores, engine blocks, (wonder why it always runs hot?) and any other spot it can find. To use it as intended, as a temporary fix to get you home is one thing, but to use it as your indicating.......I have to agree with Blue Eyed Devil, not cool. Sniper

sealing leaks

I have been a mechanic ( not a tech ) all my life, been doing it for almost 30 years now, and I didn't belive in snake oil stuff either untill about 3 years ago a man came in with a bottle of steel seal, and a subaru with a blown head gasket, puffing that sweet smelling white smoke, and #3 plug was super clean, I told him he was wasting his money, but it was his money and he wanted to try it, drain system, remove thermostst, fill with water and this stuff, let it warm up to normal temp, cut off and cool, repeat 2 more times, drain it replace thermostat, fill with antifreeze and drive, 3 years and about 70,000 miles not 1 problem, no leaks, no heating up, no coolant loss, this stuff did work, I still belive it is better to fix it than try to patch it, but some people dont have the cash to do it right sometimes.

Same stuff

I'm sure that's the stuff my friend uses.
I was at his house when he was treating a engine with it, had to warm it up and run a 2K for 20 min. White smoke filled the air for 10 min and then it began to dissipate and after another 10 min no smoke at all and the engine ran smooth.
We drove the car up to Tahoe for lunch, a long up hill haul from Minden and it ran fine.