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Subject:Bar's Leak (Was: My 2 cents on head leaks and rubber studs)
From:Geza Polony
Date:Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:51:47 -0500

OK, purists: read no further.

Bar's Leak either (a) does nothing or (b) clogs up your radiator, heater
core, etc.

However, I've had good luck with Bar's Leak over many years, and am
considering running it in my 1.9. All right, jump all over me, but here's my
reasoning. It costs ten bucks and, in my experience, works.

What I'm planning to do, when I finally get around to replacing my water
pump, is run the Bar's Leak Head Gasket repair in the system without the
radiator connected, ie. pinch off the hoses after putting the BL in. You
have to drain out all the coolant to use this stuff, otherwise muchos
problemos. It's supposed to sit in there a while, then you drain and refill
with antifreeze.

Intuitively, you would think that BL clogs up "those tiny little passages"
here and there, as if you're pouring in tile adhesive. However, intuition
also tells us the earth is flat. If it really clogged up the pores, BL would
have been out of business years ago, and the major automakers would not be
putting it, or versions of it, in all their new cars.

Anybody tried what I'm talking about--and dare to come out of the closet
about it?

I'm saying this because these leaking heads are such a prevalent problem on
the WBX's, and feel that if it's just a seal, who cares what the seal is
made of, as long as it--well, it seals.

Nicht?