I'm in need of a new radiator for a 2003 SE7 with the infamous secondary air intake since mine is leaking from one of the screws on top, so please let me know my options
In reality my plan is to try K-seal and see if it helps to stop a small leak(I know there is not such thing as small leak) from the HG in the driver side.
I'm going to flush the coolant from the engine, second I'm going to bypass the heater core and add k-seal following the instructions. After I finished I will flush the coolant with the k-seal, install new radiator, new 180 thermostat (dark grey) and new hoses for the heater core.
I will get the HG done sometime in January-February, truck in running well so far and temp is 197-208 in sunny Miami.
Please let me know you thoughts.

 

First of all Kseal does not require you to flush the system after you add it. second if it has a radiator leak, beacause the sides of the radiator are plastic you should replace the radiator target price 150 to 280 bucks.

150 bucks on ebay or so.


So just drain the coolant, replace the radiator, refill the coolant add the kseal. the Kseal will not mess with the radiator it isnt anything like the blue devil or barrs stop leak.

 

if you were to use K-seal it looks as if you have taken all the correct precautions,
that being said "I" would not use a sealer.

 

I'm not thrilled about using the K-seal neither. It is just a temp solution until next year (February the latest). I just want to do it because I already had plans to make a 2K miles round trip this December. I dont have the time to do the HG before the trip due to work and the $2400 that my mechanic was asking me is not going to happen neither.
I know I don't need to flush the coolant in order to apply the Kseal. I just feel it is a good timing since I going to replace the radiators anyway.

 

Do you guys know if the Nissen from Rockauto part #64313A fix my 2003 SE with SAI?

 

The difference is that there is a port for a temp switch on the passenger side tank for the SAI pump. I have a Nissens that I just put in mine and it fit both SAI and non-SAI trucks. You just left the plug in the tank that it comes with if you don't have SAI. I got it from Justin at Lucky8llc. They had the best price.

 

If you are in a hot climate, you might consider the inline thermostat mod, along with a new radiator, also maybe an ultragauge to keep an eye on coolant temp

with a junk, clogged and inefficient radiator in my DII, the inline thermostat mod dropped my operating temps by 20F

i think radiator barn is in FL and they have good radiators. they were out of stock and i got one from 1800- radiator... junk... scrapped a brand new rad for a nissens from BPUtah

scott

 

Rockauto sells the Nissens rad for $195. Not sure if that's a great price, but Rockauto is usually pretty cheap.

I had a tiny coolant leak from the front of my driver's side HG. After a crapload of research I used the Barr's Leaks tablets, and it hasn't leaked in a year and almost 10000 miles of driving. Those tablets are actually recommended by GM for use in their Cadillac engines that tend to have weeping HGs. They are a bit of a pain, though, because you can't just drop them in the reservoir. I guess if you have the stock bleed screw you could crush them and drop them in thru it. I had done the inline thermo mod and didn't have the stock bleeder, so I had to pull the hoses apart and drop in the tablets.

 

I'm going with the Nissens. Still debating about the K-seal or Barr's Leaks. Will post results after. Thank you all for your posts.

 

This is my update:I just added Kseal to my 2003 SE7. I ran with it for a day (about 50 Miles), drained it, and added fresh coolant. so far so good, car is running great with the temp gauge below 200.
To be honest, I took some precautions since I bypassed the heater core and thermostat. My radiator had a small leak so if I see any sign of clogging I will post it in here. Anyway, radiator will be replaced.
My HG are scheduled to be done (by me) by February 2014 (or sooner).