Car is leaking a lot of antifreeze and oil was spooed over the left hand side of the engine. The car runs fine until it gets hot. Mechanic said that I have an internal combustion leak. The car has been in the family forever and planned on giving it to my 17yr old son in November. Engine has 110,000 on it. Would any of the advertised stop leak products work? Thank you.
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The stop-leak products might work… for a while, then they won’t It is a temporary fix at best and it may make a huge mess inside the engine that will hamper your ability to fix it correctly. Given the symptoms you describe, I’d say NO, there is nothing that will work.
Given your mechanic’s diagnosis, he didn’t say what was allowing combustion gasses to “leak out” or where those gasses are going did he? What you describe is usually 1) head gasket or a 2) cracked head or maybe 3) cracked block. The combustion gasses are getting into the cooling system and the crankcase, blowing antifreeze and oil out every opening. Sounds like you need to consider a used or rebuilt engine.
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+1 to @Mustangman, the stop leak products may work and if they do work it is a short term fix. Usually best used when you are trying to squeeze a few more miles out of a car that is heading for the junkyard in a few months. If the oil has not been contaminated by coolant you have a chance of saving the engine by having the heads removed, repaired and new gaskets installed. Without knowing what car this is a SWAG on the cost is $900 to $1,200. But if the car is otherwise solid this is worth doing. Consider that a new car payment is ~$300 a month, you have covered your cost in 4 months. If you have run the car like this for a long time, the coolant may have diluted the oil and the engine may have internal damage from lack of lubricant. This changes the equation to a more expensive solution.
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Make model year?
Volvo 2001 v70 2.4t
Thanks for the replies so far. Debating on trying one of the sealants. Not sure if the car is worth putting 1500 in.
If the oil looks like mud the engine is likely toasted. Even the best stop leak products are hit and miss and as others have mentioned temporary patches and although they occasionally seal off a crack for years I wouldn’t drive out of the range of a local taxi while depending on a sealer.
If you are going to try a stop leak, don’t have your son drive it for several months. Hate to strand him somewhere.
Like the others, I very much doubt that it would work.
Make mine another vote not to waste time with an additive fix.
Additives have their place in the world, but IMHO using them on a headgasket leak on a car you plan to pass on to your son for reliable transportation isn’t one of them.
I have problem with my Cadillac CTS 2005 too! Either the Internal Combustion leak. All I needed was ignition. Because I accidentally crashed my car at a grassy area near a roadway.
Huh?
…
I can’t tell you how many cars I see at the scrapyard with empty bottles of stopleak, blockseal, etc in the floorboard. So it must not be that effective…
I vote with the cracked head or block suggestions. I think if I was going to keep the car for a while I would opt for a factory rebuilt engine. Do not, repeat, do not attempt to rebuild that engine.
Do you walk to work, or do you carry your lunch?
