Where's It Going (coolant)???

[OR VietVet]

Supposed to use all tablets supplied with the blister pack.

 

[Byoung1330]

2005 XL...adding 1/2" a week. Three garages + the Dealer all say: "I dunno"!
No symptoms like rough idle (could balance a nickel on it), loss of MPG (none - gets 22 on the road), smell outside-or-in (none).

Did the big 4 Tests multiple times at different garages: Visual look, Pressure test (always good), Dye Test (no visible leaks), Head Gasket test (fine).
Then why have I added 1/2" coolant weekly for the past year???

Had the same problem on my 04 Tahoe. I added these ac Delco tablets and haven’t had to add coolant in over 2 months. I was adding every week. I don’t believe in the miracle stuff or additives I’m afraid of heater core getting clogged and all that but these are ac delco an I trust most their stuff.

 

[SnowBuck]

OK... hammered in a baggie, dumped in to the upper radiator hose. Now...how long til I see a result: like how many miles?

 

[OR VietVet]

It has to breakdown in there and circulate and then do what it does. I would guess you should see results within 20 miles.

 

[SnowBuck]

Thanx to all that responded. After 4 garages and the Dealer: pressure test/dye test/head gasket test ... all said "I dunno!"... I put in those tablets (ground up in to the radiator hose):

I haven't added a drop since !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[OR VietVet]

GM's answer to Alka Seltzer strikes again.

 

[George B]

Glad to hear it worked. Funny story: A coworker of mine used to work maintenance in a landfill. They used to temporarily stop coolant leaks with ground black pepper dumped into the radiators of the compactors at the site. He said it worked pretty well for a long time on the machines.

 

[OR VietVet]

I have never seen it but have heard about it several times from way back that you can also crack an egg in there for a quick patch to get you home after refilling. My guess is the boiled egg bits would clog the hole.

 

[Larryjb]

When I had my cracked head, I had pondered using the tablets. But, I didn't know (and I'm still not personally satisfied with) the long term effects of these tablets on the cooling system as a whole. But, obviously, lots of people use them and don't report any ill effects.

My personal worry other than the long term effects of the tablets was that if the head was leaking, would that leak open up on something like the Grapevine while pulling our camping trailer into LA. I decided to not even take that chance. That summer we used the '08 Explorer (WOW, the performance of a smaller engine with VVT AND 6 speed transmission!). I have since replaced the head and am leak free. Tablets may have worked for me, but cracking a head when out of the country is seriously not fun.

 

[FrankU]

We use these tablets on the Corvette LT5 engines as suggested by Chevrolet with no ill effects at all.

Just my 2 cents FWIW