Has anyone ever heard of putting oatmeal in a radiator to stop a leak...and does that work? I'm really low on money so i can fix the problem and I'm lookin for a temporary substitute until I get the funds.

never heard of that....but where is the leak coming from? the side tanks? a break in the fins?

well to be honest im not sure where its comin from. bout 2 months ago it started leaking. found out that the heater hose fiitin had broke in half. fixed that and then like a week later it started leaking again. so i went to the parts store and got a tube of stop leak and it worked. didnt check to see if that was the actual problem. so it doesnt leak until like 2 days ago. so i'm wondering if the stop leak had worn out or what. a buddy of mine said it might be the water pump or the hose from the pump to the radiator. i'm not much of a mechanic so i have no clue what i'm lookin for...lmao

Oatmeal is an early 1900'* rememdy, and not suggested. It will clog your cooling system and cause more issues than it could try to solve.

I understand money is tight. This is why you need to locate the leak. Once you can tell us where it'* leaking from, we can tell you how best to fix it for the lowest cost possible.

The best way to locate the leak is to make sure your coolant system is full, then bring the car to temp and spend some time carefully looking all around the radiator, coolant lines and hoses and water pump areas to try and see leak clues.

If you don't know what you are looking at, a picture will help us help you.

From the sound of things, yours shouldn't be that hard to find.

And once you find the leak, you really need to see your way to fixing it permanently, despite the cost. A $50-100 repair now just might save your car. If you're lucky, it might be a lower cost repair.

Oatmeal worked in early radiators when they had passages big enough to stick your finger thru and operating pressures were very low (2-5lbs). It might fix your leak but it will stop your cooling also. :? Quick possible fix and cheap is something like Alumaseal or Barrs Leak, available at parts stores for under $5. As mentioned before, best thing is to find the leak and fix it right, as soon as you can. This fix-it in a can stuff is not reliable. You might get lucky and find its something as simple as a loose clamp .

I take no liability for mentioning this, but normal household ground pepper works. I've done it in my 94 SSE, but later found the leak was from the water pump. Cooling system was fine otherwise. Service garage replaced all coolant, don't remember if they did a flush so I may have a radiator that'll sneeze at any moment.



I learned this trick from my gear-head brother in law that goes two-tracking with his heavily modified full size '78 (I think) Bronco. When he goes on weekend excursions, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with a leaky coolant system or radiator is obviously not a quick fix, so they bring pepper with them. It works well enough to get home for a three hour drive on the highway to replace the bad components without losing precious coolant for the trip home. He said it'* worked every time, from a pin size hole in the radiator caused by rocks and sticks and other leaks caused by stuff.

Bars Leaks is awesome stuff, but like any other sealer, don't over do it. We had a sales rep put on a display for us. He poked a hole in a soda can with a pin, poured some coffee hot water into it, and added Bars Leaks. Sealed the hole up before the can was half empty.

Eggs work, too, as an emergency only fix.

One thing that doesn't seem to work well is that JB weld.
It was on a ford, but the radiator was leaking out of a hole in the plastic. I tried that but as soon as some pressure built, the leak gave way.

To delay spending the money, you could patch the leak with something like duct tape but leave the radiator cap on but not tight. it will prevent pressure from building. Unfortunately, antifreeze will leak out of the filler neck. It is not a good idea, but if you make only short trips and really watch the temp gauge, it is a rig job for now. :?

Not that I have ever done something like that...