Years ago when I was a teen and couldn’t pay for radiator repair shops when our radiators developed a leak we had two home remedies we used. One was pour a small can of Pet’s Condensed Milk in the radiator. The other was pour a small can of McCormick’s Black Pepper in the radiator. I had a friend who’s '49 Ford leaked so bad he carried a jug of water. He put in the Pet Milk and it stopped the leak. I had a '59 Ford with a leak so I put in a can of black pepper. After that I drove from FL to AZ and back, 5,000 miles, and never had to add any water. When I turned on the heater I could smell the pepper. Anyone ever heard of these two remedies or do you know of a different remedy?
I have heard of Pet Milk - or condensed milk - as a stop leak. Raw eggs, too, in the water. And then there’s mash a banana into the radiator surface to stop a leak. Never tried any of them, just Bars. I doubt they’d work very well with the higher pressure radiator systems we use today. 21 psi (or more) caps versus 12 psi or 14 psi caps I remember from my much older cars from long ago
Thank goodness we generally don’t have to deal with that anymore.
I had a car that developed a gas tank leak due to scraping going up a steep driveway at the wrong angle. Rubbing bar soap on the scraped area would stop the leak.
My old shop teacher needed a rotor while doing missionary work in Africa, he made one with a paper clip and cork until he could get to a place that sold one.
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So here’s my question
Did you have to keep reapplying bar soap, say every few days/weeks
Or was it a “once and done” repair?
Average was about every 2 weeks, after a few months a local garage fixed the leak and attached extra metal to act as a skid plate.
Never heard of the banana or the bar of soap, just the condensed milk and pepper. I wonder who was the first person to try such solutions. Or were they like Edison and had multiple failures before finding the one that worked. I liked the idea of the paper clip and cork for a rotor, that was very clever. My dad said he once used wire (similar to coat hangers) in place of spark plug wires for a 4-cylinder Model T.
I’m missing something… brake rotor?
Oh, distributor rotor…
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Black pepper worked on the old radiators I don’t know if it would work on the newer one’s aluminum & plastic. The only problem I had with the black pepper was when I put in a truck radiator when I got back to the terminal a few week’s later & told the shop forman about it he sent me ta a radiator shop to get it fixed right I got cussed out by the man at the radiator shop he said that pepper was the hardest thing to clean out of a radiator he also said I could have gone many years like that.
Clearly a distributor rotor. Heard of it before. Paper clip provides the contact with the dist cap and he cork holds it all together. Or like me, just stock spare parts.
The egg would be cooked, and maybe that would be enough to stop the leak. Maybe the condensed milk was curdled and the curds filled the holes.
Yes!
If you are in pain, simply put a knife under your bed before you go to sleep, and it will cut the pain in half.
What’s that?
It doesn’t work?
Well, I guess that those “old wives” don’t know everything.
Now I was having an intermittent issue with my boat, slow to mid speed up and down rpm, half to full speed fine, cleaned the carbs and fuel filter, new plugs and some extra sea foam, ran great for a week, then started tantrum again.
Now a bud said use 98% Isopropyl alcohol, as water can be an issue and it turns the water into a flamable substance. I had some old heet bottles and recalling they were methanol.
Another point, I decided the sediment in the fuel filter was from the 50 year old tank, sand like rust colored particles. The 3 gallon tank for the little boat got swiped, so I bought a new one. I decided to use that on the big boat to see if issues were resolved. Evidently the new style lets air in but not out. Gasoline rainbow shine behind the boat motor. So I disconnect the line with the tank in the vent position, gasoline leaking out of the connection point on the brand new tank due to expansion air pressure from being in the sun. And this cycle will repeat, heats up in the sun spews gas, cools down, lets air in, and repeat the next day.
So I am ecological now, no random vapors escaping from the tank, I do not think that is better than gas seeping out of the tank due to pressure build up, worked fine in the lab but another gas tank emission improvement fail.
The book I am reading now talks about how DC is filled with IYI. Intellectuals yet idiots when it comes to actually common sense and getting something done. Fine degrees from ivy leagues but have no idea how to accomplish anything and hire other people just like themselves and marry people just like themselves and produce more little people that will grow up to be just like them from the finest schools taught by people just like them.
Hang onto your old gas cans.
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The curds got in the whey of the leaks!
CSA
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Nyuk nyuk nyuk!
I’m not impressed with your book, @bing. That sounds like life everywhere.
So my home remedy will be where to put a hole to let gas vapors vent out while the cap is closed and in venting open, as it only lets air in and spews gas from the tank connection after sitting in the sun and building up pressure in that new fangled environmentally friendly ~NOT~ SOLUTION, yet have a tight seal for storage.
Somewhere someone had a link (maybe it was youtube) to those replacement gas can snouts that came with an air fitting. Drill a hole and insert the vent. So maybe take the vent that only allows air in and turn it around so it only lets air out. Then put in a vent that you can open and close. Either that or you’ve got to get a pressure relief valve for what, 2 pounds or something?
One of many: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPOW0Rkchx8
Check Laurel and Hardy’s 1929 comedy at 13:15.
I used a Campbells Soup can to reconnect the exhaust on my '69 Plymouth Fury once. Eating the soup first was the only part that went well, but it worked.