Barrs or ?

adileo

adileo

Well-known member
Hi folks

I have a very small weeping of antifreeze on the top of both water pumps, on the 52 F1. Truck has manual gages and never runs above 190.

I'm thinking of using Barrs. What's the Barn opinion?

Btw - Before winter I would probably flush & replace the antifreeze.
 
Bars is great for a lot of places, but I don't think it will help keep a waterpump seal from leaking. It does lubricate the seal.
 
Barr's won't stop a leaking water pump. Sounds like the seal is leaking. Seals
are pressed against the set by the spring in the seal. Dirt can build up in the
spring locking in a fixed position and not push against the seal. Or the seat could
be a little dirty if the engine wasn't run for a year or more. Running for a while
may stop the leak. On early pumps 32 to 48 with bushings, not bearing you can
manually force the pulley out and back in until when you pull it out it snaps back
in towards the engine by it self. This is the spring in the seal that you feel. Bearing
pump shafts are locked in place by the ball bearing in the shaft and won't move
in and out. G.M.
 
Using a sodium silicate sealer can be risky in an older engine where there can be other blockages in the system. If engine is recent to overhaul and the radiator is known to be clean, the risk is low. Keep in mind though that gasket material is soft and the water pumps are a load bearing component of the engine so movement can take place there if the gaskets are deteriorated. You might consider just jacking that engine up a bit and replacing those gaskets. They aren't going to get better with age and Barrs Leaks is a stop gap not a cure for this.
 
deuce_roadster said:
Just put in new gaskets on both pumps. Not that big of a job and it will be fixed right.
Click to expand...

True - if bolt inside hose is not rusted / frozen. Then small job could turn into nightmare.

As mentioned pumps are working well. I'd rather opt for easy simple solution 1st.
 
I believe in the old saying, "If you can't find the time to repair it correctly, when are you going to find the time to redo it?"
Mechanic in a can usually turns out to be a waste of time and money..
 
Bars Leaks has changed formula in the last few years & can be a big problem!!!!!
We had used it for many years in our race engines , then a few years ago we all of a sudden for no reason started running warmer with the same grille opening . After much research as to why we found the tubes in our radiators we blocked or partially blocked with little hair like fiber. Even after rinsing out radiators & letting them dry we could take an air hose , blow through radiator & see all these little "hairs " still coming out of radiator. Our engineering staff contacted the Bars Leak company to be told that the formula had been changed.
We stopped using this product & temps came back to what we expected .
I "HAD" been a 45 year plus user of this product , but after what I witnessed , I will not use it in anything!!!!
Just my experience!
Cheers
Tony
 
Adding those fibers makes it fill in larger leak sites. This makes it an even larger risk of blocking flow where you don't want it to. Modern aluminum engine blocks & heads likely brought this change.
 
I'd agree with replacing the pump gaskets. Be sure to get a good six point socket to attack the bolt inside the water passage. A lot better chance of getting it out rather than rounding it off!
 
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