Using "liquid miracles in a bottle" should always be the course of last resort, and it may ultimately cause the demise of the vehicle.

Anybody who has opened up an intake to replace gaskets on a vehicle that has had the "stop leak" treatment will recognize the crud that has built up inside the engine passages. "Stop Leak" is like a blood clot where the "fibers" try to build a blockage. Unfortunately, it acts indescriminately, clotting whenever and wherever it starts to hang up inside the passages. You can't force "stop leak" to only act on the specific point of your leak. Fixing it right is always the best action. Most repairs done properly and promptly, when amortized over the extended life of the vehicle, will always end up being the cheapest solution, IMHO.

And I don't just mean financially, since there is peace of mind when you're not necessarily worrying about if the "stop leak" will hold out just long enough to get me to my next stop. You get my drift.....

 

I prefer black pepper to stop leak. Plus it wont gum up the system. And yes black pepper works on pin hole leaks in the radiator.

Teh pepper finds the pin hole, gets lodged in place and swells to seal. We did it to a buiddy of mines rad on our way to family vacation. Drive the remaining 400 miles to the vacation spot, drove around the week, drove it the 500 miles home, and then he drove it for 2 months more before finally getting it fixed the right way. Oldly enough an "old" guy is the one who told us about it, figured since we had McDonalds peper packets int eh lunch sack we might as well give it a shot.