Radiator Sealant Stuff?

[Jehu]

I assume it is probably not advisable to use that radiator Sealant stuff they sell at Auto parts stores, It looks like graphite, supposed to pour it into the expansion tank and as it woks its way thru plugs small leaks in the coolant system. It came to mind as a means to maybe mend my small heater core leak which only gives me a whiff of coolant when i turn the heat blower on but doesn't persist so i figure its rather small.Can hard,unintentional downshifts create so much back pressure that it can blow coolant hoses off if they're already loose?The other day this happened and later that day the top radiator hose popped off, I only link the two incidents because of the infrequency of my missing shifts.There was a good bit of coolant spilled up at the hose neck area and the smelling of the coolant i thought was just excess spillage burning off but its been a few weeks now i'd think whatever spilled should be gone by now yet i still smell coolant when i turn the heat blower on though it does disappear right away.I thought maybe if hard downshifting could have also loosened the hoses on the heater core or forces a squirt ,what I'm smelling from the dash vents is just residue and there really isn't a crack or hole.Probably wishful thinking but if i really don't need to tear the dash apart I'd love to avoid it .The End

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Can hard,unintentional downshifts create so much back pressure that it can blow coolant hoses off if they're already loose?The other day this happened and later that day the top radiator hose popped off, I only link the two incidents because of the infrequency of my missing shifts.

Sounds like your jerking the motor around on broken mounts

[Fetch]

My M60 also ripped off the top coolant hose after not a mis-shift, but might of well been (went up to 6k rpm in 1st (stupid) and it didn't want to go into 2nd).

I am hoping the combination of maybe old/broken mounts & the hose clamp being loose from the alternator replacement from right before I bought the car made it easy for mine to blow off. I don't want to have a head gasket leak pressurizing my cooling system.

I wouldn't want to use radiator sealant stuff unless somebody on here has had some great results over a long period of time, with the M60.

[Jehu]

Could one think themselves luckey to have had the pressure blow the Rad Hose off rather than come thru the head gasket?

[nizmainiac]

i've always used bars leaks, you can get it in a small tube and looks a bit like an oxo cube you just crumble it right in there and it breaks down and dissolves in the coolant, also you can get it in liquid from, brilliant stuff

[pingu]

I think Radweld is also good for fixing leaks - although Barsleak and Radweld get a bad rap for blocking things up, I think this is partly because they are often used as a last ditch fix on cooling systems that have not been maintained (i.e. no fresh coolant every couple of years) and such cooling systems are probably so full of crap that they will easily clog.

I've used Radweld to "fix" a heater core leak (my coolant has been regularly changed so the system isn't full of corrosion crap) with no problems.

Any further doubts should be dispelled by the following link - it seems as if Subaru require the use of Radweld (re-packaged with a Subaru sticker and part number!):

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2993