Anybody ever use these (in their Rover engine)? I've heard a little about them in GM engines, and that in many years, they are a required part of maintenance.

I'm losing small amounts of coolant, I think it's a clamp somewhere. I've done a pressure test on my cooling system and found NO leaks, so my mechanic told me to give these a shot. He gave them to me for free.

Interesting first few ingredients : Ginger, Almond Shell, Sodium Carbonate - 1,6-Heptadiene-3,5-dione, 1,7-Bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-

2011-06-16_15-48-02_979.jpg?t=1308265324

 

probably has a head gasket or radiator leaking. take a look with a flashlight and look for yourself. or better yet use some coolant dye and you are sure to spot a coolant leak.

 

Thanks for the input, the dye will be the next try. You ever seen, heard anything about these tabs???

I took a LONG look with my mechanic the other day, we pressurized the heck out of the system and couldn't spot a thing. There is another clamp underneath the coolant reservoir that I missed when I changed the others out and there is a little bit of moisture underneath there, so I'm going to swap it out this weekend and hope that finally curbs my coolant disappearing act.

No overheating, no white smoke, no milky oil, no codes, no coolant on the ground, no other coolant drips

 

I have heard of those tabs and I have heard they work well.
However I am skeptical of "quick" fixes.
If I were half way through a trip and just had to make it as far as I could I would give something like that a shot.
Otherwise no, I would not.
Whats wrong with having a small leak?
Keep the system full and dont worry about it, if you start having to add coolant at a alarming rate then the leak will be obvious and you can fix it correctly.
My wifes Volvo has had a small coolant leak for 2 years, it needs a radiator but you need to literary remove the whole front of the car to replace it.
We go through about 1 gal of coolant a year so I'm not worried about it.

 

Don't waste your time and money on dye. If you have a leak, first, you never use a stop leak product in a Rover and second, go have it pressure tested to 18 pounds for 15 plus minutes, then do the repair before you toast your engine.

 

I remember using those tabs in the Cadillac HT 4100 (Hopeless Trash, althouth the 4.9 was awesome). The block was too porous and the coolant mixed with the oil easily. These were designed to lessen the porosity of the aluminum.

 

Thanks for all the input gents.

I wouldn't consider this a "STOP LEAK" product since it isn't labeled as such, and doesn't tout itselt like some of the other products you see on the shelf. I gave it a shot with 3 tabs (5 tabs treats up to 32 quart coolant system). I mixed the 3 tabs in a cup of water to dissolve them, and then poured the solution into the coolant tank.

It has been a couple of weeks, I have already noticed a major decrease in coolant consumption. After a little bit of city driving I used to get a slight smell of coolant in the cabin, which always worried me, but that has been absent since I added the tabs.

So far so good!

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P.S. Mike - I pressure tested my system (we even went above 18psi) WITH my mechanic and we could not locate a leak, so he recommended trying these tabs, so far it was good advice.

 

Years ago I worked at a GM dealership. The seal tabs were part of normal maintenance. Never experienced any problems from their use.

 

All that being said, don't use any in a Rover cooling system, fix the problem in the proper way.