while true, i DID pour pepper into my IC tank, it wasnt b/c i was bored. here is there story. may be old news for some, and may be new/helpful info to others. it was definitely new info to me, yesterday.
i have been having a few cooling issued w/the car lately. it is my year round DD, and has been since day 1. i ended up having to take the car to my bro-inlaw's shop, who is a mechanic for a living. we went ahead and flushed the coolant system (since is had never been flushed or changed at over 100k miles), then refilled with fresh water/coolant mix..as well as drilled the thermostat. then we had to replace the cooling fan, which was the main purpose of the car running hot, and overheating.
so yesterday, after i pull into my driveway, i noticed a couple of drops of coolant on the ground, and i could see it dripping about 1 drop every 2 or 3 seconds. upon closer inspection, the leak was coming from the heat exchanger. apparently a small rock hit it in the lower left corner causing a slow leak. i also noticed the fluid in the IC tank was down to about half full. since i am no mechanic, i call my bro-inlaw at home, and explain to him what happened/my situation. he advised me to take a teaspoon of pepper, and dump it into the IC tank, while the car is running. i must admit i was hesitant about this, and never heard of it before. he assured me that as long as i dont use TOO much better, then everything will be fine. so i went to the kitchen, and grabbed the pepper and a spoon, and went at it. less than 5 minutes later, there was no more leak. i have drove several times since then, including today, and still no leak. my bro-inlaw said he had to do the same thing to one of his cars, and it fixed it/lasted as long as he had the car.
some other helpful info - i asked him (before doing the pepper thing), if i should go to an auto store and get some of that "radiator-stop leak" stuff that they make, and he advised against it, saying that if the cooling system needs flushed later, then it is an extreme bitch getting it flushed/cleaned with that stuff in there. he said with the pepper though, there is no problems if you ever want to flush the system, it will flush right out.
anyway, as long as you dont get a HUGE hole in your HE from a rock, this is by far the cheapest fix out there!!
for those that already knew/know about this trick, that is great! =]
just wanted to share this info with those that didnt know about it! =]
:rockon:
i have been having a few cooling issued w/the car lately. it is my year round DD, and has been since day 1. i ended up having to take the car to my bro-inlaw's shop, who is a mechanic for a living. we went ahead and flushed the coolant system (since is had never been flushed or changed at over 100k miles), then refilled with fresh water/coolant mix..as well as drilled the thermostat. then we had to replace the cooling fan, which was the main purpose of the car running hot, and overheating.
so yesterday, after i pull into my driveway, i noticed a couple of drops of coolant on the ground, and i could see it dripping about 1 drop every 2 or 3 seconds. upon closer inspection, the leak was coming from the heat exchanger. apparently a small rock hit it in the lower left corner causing a slow leak. i also noticed the fluid in the IC tank was down to about half full. since i am no mechanic, i call my bro-inlaw at home, and explain to him what happened/my situation. he advised me to take a teaspoon of pepper, and dump it into the IC tank, while the car is running. i must admit i was hesitant about this, and never heard of it before. he assured me that as long as i dont use TOO much better, then everything will be fine. so i went to the kitchen, and grabbed the pepper and a spoon, and went at it. less than 5 minutes later, there was no more leak. i have drove several times since then, including today, and still no leak. my bro-inlaw said he had to do the same thing to one of his cars, and it fixed it/lasted as long as he had the car.
some other helpful info - i asked him (before doing the pepper thing), if i should go to an auto store and get some of that "radiator-stop leak" stuff that they make, and he advised against it, saying that if the cooling system needs flushed later, then it is an extreme bitch getting it flushed/cleaned with that stuff in there. he said with the pepper though, there is no problems if you ever want to flush the system, it will flush right out.
anyway, as long as you dont get a HUGE hole in your HE from a rock, this is by far the cheapest fix out there!!
for those that already knew/know about this trick, that is great! =]
just wanted to share this info with those that didnt know about it! =]
:rockon:
