Quote:
Originally Posted by torsionbar
The flakes were pieces of actual metal, not dried bits of a silver-colored product.
Or are you saying that a stop leak product will cause some component in the cooling system to deteriorate and shed metal pieces?
HC's are PITA on most cars, not sure why they don't design them for better serviceability. I'm curious what the motivation would be to replace it in my situation? It isn't leaking, and the heat is nice and strong so it's not clogged either. During my triple rounds of fill-drive-drain with distilled water, I had the cabin heat on high the entire time, so the heater core would be flushed clean as well.
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I used Heavy Duty Bar's Leak decades ago as a stop gap measure (
no pun intended) on an old Ford with a leaky radiator.
IIRC it had pelletized aluminum flakes in an oily base.
I remember seeing the shiny metal flakes in the coolant drain pan when I replaced the radiator.
Your post reminded me of that incident.
I've seen other others use stop leak products that can remain suspended and actually look like flakes of glitter in the coolant.
Since your radiator had been replaced, and the PO used green coolant, I thought the metal might be residue from using stop leak products.
Stop leak products shouldn't cause any large metal flakes to shed from your coolant system.
The flakes could very well be from the old water pump bearing, or bits of the aluminum water pump housing.
I'm not suggesting you replace your heater core at all.
I merely tried to offer a helpful suggestion that
if the PO had indeed used a stop leak product to fix a leaking radiator prior to replacing it, that the heater core
may be in a degraded condition, where it may fail at a
future time, and that l sincerely
hope that is
not the case because it is a tedious job no one looks forward to performing.
We've all probably seen crusty evidence of intermittent pinhole coolant leaks that have temporarily self-healed.
However, it is difficult to directly visually inspect a heater core.
I hope your heater core remains healthy and that it never needs replacing.
