fluid sealants?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Just curious if anyone knew more about the chemistry of these magic potions?

Specifically when I had a power steering leak last week (probably ongoing over the past month...) autozone sold me a bottle of leak sealant.
They make similar things for radiators for sure, maybe for engine oil leaks and for fuel lines?

My suspicion is that these must be bad: anything that fills in gaskets, will fill in other stuff, and by definition can't perform as a proper lubricant?

But curious what others' real experiences have been.

[1987cp]

My rule of thumb is generally to avoid products advertised to magically seal leaks, so I'd suggest taking that bottle back. I remember once (before I was "allowed" to work on my own stuff) visiting a radiator shop after having used stopleak, and they were pretty insistent on charging me $50 for a flush after they sealed up my leaky water neck.

[91waggin]

Just curious if anyone knew more about the chemistry of these magic potions?

Specifically when I had a power steering leak last week (probably ongoing over the past month...) autozone sold me a bottle of leak sealant.
They make similar things for radiators for sure, maybe for engine oil leaks and for fuel lines?

My suspicion is that these must be bad: anything that fills in gaskets, will fill in other stuff, and by definition can't perform as a proper lubricant?

But curious what others' real experiences have been.

Radiator stop leak leaves the most unbelievable gunk in the radiator. Don't do it. I've found that most of them are snake oil.

Long story short: If it leaks, fix it. Replace the seal, gasket, whatever. Don't trust a magic potion to do it for you.

[1990LTD]

Lucas power steering stop leak works. It's the only thing like it I've ever tried, I put some in not too long after I bought my car because it was dripping a bit of p/s fluid, enough to matter, but I haven't had a drop in fluid level at all since then.

[gadget73]

yeah, the Lucas does work for slow seeps around the seals. I actually use it to shut up noisy pumps that a fluid flush won't take care of. It doesn't take much. Last time I needed any, I bet I didn't use 1/4 of the bottle and it silenced the pump. Fresh fluid of the correct type will do more to shut a PS pump up than magic potions will though, and its certainly safer. Unless the leak is very minor though, I wouldn't expect much out of any sort of stop leak potion.

[1990LTD]

1/4 of the bottle sounds about right. Most of it is still in the bottle sitting on my shelf

[85crownHPP]

+3 on the Lucas power steering stop leak...

[cld783]

it's all bullshit... even if it does work it doesn't belong in your vehicle.

91waggin is spot on

[Tiggie]

I put power steering stop leak in an '87 tbird once for the leaking front seal on the pump. Ended up replacing that and the whole steering rack AND hoses because it swelled everything that was rubber. Worse $2 I ever spent. I don't remember the brand.

If I absolutely had to use a stop leak, I'd trust lucas.

But I find is a lot better to replace a $3 seal and permanently fix the problem. I put new seals on my steering box of teh wagon. Now the pump is starting to leak so that'll get resealed too.

[BGoins12]

I've learned over the past few years that any "Stop leak" item is a joke. Out of the 13904394 things I tried (PS stop leak, radiator stop leaks, oil stop leaks, etc), only one worked.... Bar's radiator stop leak. It worked for 2 weeks until I got paid so I could get my new radiator.

[86VickyLX]

Stop leak + Radiator = brown shitty clogged coolant passages.

[91grandmarquis]

Leaky radiator plus egg equals non leaky radiator. not sure how long it will work though, and can't be good for anything.