Dexcool leak

Charles, it really doesn't matter to me what you do when you put together engines. You do whatever you want to. My only point is that "if" you use the GM sealing tabs, no harm will come to your engine. I've been working in GM dealerships for close to 25 years now, and have yet to see one engine that was blown up due to "stop leak" products of any sort. This is probably due more to the fact that Canadian car owners, in general, just fix their cars properly, and don't just resort to stop leak. It must be different in your neck of the woods. I've personally used stop leak products on my own beaters, and so far, the sky hasn't fallen yet. I don't use them at work, as we replace parts, not install stop leak, in order to fix a coolant leak. GM's stop leak is designed more as some sort of preventative maintenance, not as a fix for leaks.

How many Northstars have you built lately? I don't care how good you are, if you put one of those together with the gaskets that GM uses on them, they will seep eventually. We see the problems with them on high milers that haven't had the coolant changed or the pellets added during a coolant change. It's just the way it works with them.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai
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Well, you "can't" debate whether the GM product is harmful to the engine or not, because it isn't. It's been in use for years.

No doubt, I think your conclusion is probably correct. GM is quite interested in keeping their warranty costs down. Having said that, the product will not harm your engine, and it can stop minor leaks/seeps. Whether you use it or not is entirely up to you. Here's a link to a minor discussion on the sealant by a Caddy engineer.

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He's mainly talking about it's use in the all aluminums Northstar, and /or the older aluminums block/ cast iron head 4.X series of Caddy engines.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

No Ian I do not just do what I please. I have to be very anal retentive. I have to clean, check, correct, recheck, make sure something is right 3 times before I put it together. There are a lot of other people in this area that do the same type of work. Get a bad reputation, your big money customers go away. Everything I do on a car has my name attached to it. I don't even have a sign, nor am I easy to find with out directions. So no surprises, and making sure it's perfect are the name of the game.

By all means go visit a salvage yard some time, a large one, with high mileage cars.

Canadians maintain there cars better and do better repairs? Did someone put Acid in your drink? I don't live in Mexico.

Using stop leak as a P-M is just a band-aide. The solution is to find the problem, and correct it. Even if it means redesigning gaskets, and changing matting surface designs.

As for using it in your own cars, kind stupid not to fix the problem. Hell I even did P-M work on my yard cars when I worked in salvage yards.

For Gaskets I use either Mr.Gasket or Fel-Pro. When it comes to Caddy's I won't touch them. My Customers know this, and know better then to even bring one in for a brake job. A buddy wanted me to put a starter on his 72 Coupe-Deville a few years back, with a 472. Told him where he could have it towed and done. I don't touch them, won't drive them, hate even looking at them.

My business partner used to be a dealer puke too. He's always tossing that up in my face like it matters. I know a few other ones too. That doesn't make you special, neither does doing it for 25 years. Yea the cars were less complex in 1979, and you have had to learn a lot of new tricks. Most of what you work on has less then 100,000 miles, and every so often someone will bring in something 10 years old? Try stepping in to my world. I work on it all. Old as in a 1918 Ford, new as in the 2001 GP that's out of warrantee that the customer wants me to build an engine for. If GM would pay me to do warrantee work, I could have twice the business I do know. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

It sure seems like Canadians maintain their cars better from what I read on these newsgroups. The majority of posters are from the States, and from what I read on here, both the customers and the technicians down there leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's because anyone down there can be a "mechanic" as long they have a Snap-On credit card. Not saying this is you, but you guys have no industry standards or licensing requirements down there for techs.

Ahhhh, so you are in the business of "redesigning" gaskets, eh? What have you come up with for the 3100/3400 series of GM engines? Maybe if it's good enough, we can present your new gasket to GM, god knows they can't fix their leaks.

Not at all, when the vehicle is only worth a couple of hundred dollars, stop leak does a great job of keeping an old radiator from leaking. Doesn't block up the rad, or the heater, (I should know, I need a good heater during the Canadian winters here).

Why wont you touch them? It's all the same shit, just a different pile, right?

Actually, we work on many vehicles that much older then 10 years. But frankly, who needs it? I'm not in this so that I can work on old pieces of shit all day long. Most of those owners want you to rubberband everything together, and we don't do that. It's all new parts, or take your pile of crap down the road to some guy that likes dealing with that stuff. The only cars that we work on that are fairly old are usually some customer who has newer vehicles that he brings in, and he wants us to also look after some older vehicle that he has. It's really done as a favor, as working on older vehicles is nothing but a hassle when it comes to getting parts, and doing repairs.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

Down here we have ASE & SAE. Both certifications are worthless. I know "Master Techs" that I wouldn't let change a light bulb, a 194 even. Just because someone is certified doesn't mean they are anything but a good test taker. I never bothered. Even when I closed down my first shop, and got out of it, my customers were showing up at my front door, pleading. So that tells me it doesn't matter to them. The one it did matter to, got screwed over by three "Master Techs", then came back begging.

There is a difference between parts changers and Mechanics. The world is full of parts changers. Hell I have a friend that lives in Canada. She can not find a competent mechanic. Often I end up diagnosing her car for her, online. Then when she can finally convince the idiots working on it to do what I said, 99% often time it fixes it. So I know not every "Mechanic" in Canada is worth a shit.

No I'm not an engineer. Can I make gaskets? Yes. Have I before? Yes. Give me a Unix terminal with Auto-Cad on the Main, and I could design a gasket.

Why not just change the radiator? Or take it out, and have it record, or new side tanks put on it? It doesn't cost much to do. Hell my "beaters" usually sell for over $1000 US.

I hate Caddy's with a passion. They are junk, from the first ones to the current ones. Them and Chrysler FWD's, BMW's, Ford FWD's, VW's, Mazda Cars, Nissan Cars, & any thing Honda. I don't touch them, no customer has enough money.

I started off doing Old Cars, they are my passion. Classic Tin gives me a hard on. I grew up around Big Block Muscle Cars, and cool classics. I work on newer stuff because that is most of what people bring me. I still deal in parts for 1955 to 2002 cars. Because I like it.

As for using used parts, 70% of the used parts I sell are better then the new parts the after market makes. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

You say there is something left to be desired by U.S. auto repair industry, then you turn about and say fixing older cars is doing someone a favor in Canada. Hmm.

Reply to
SgtSilicon

You had said GM recalled the 200 and up 3800 engines - specifically to put this stuff in? Or they fix the engine then put this in as part of the fix? Or something? In that case it's not up to you whether it's used on not, methinks.

I don't object if the owner has a choice, but it seems that there is something wrong if GM's warranty statistics are actually being affected by use of this product. (which I maintain they are, otherwise why use it) If the engine is properly designed, manufactured and assembled then there should be no difference in warranty rates between cars that use this and those that don't. Why treat the symptom instead of fixing the cause?

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

Now, this to me is plainly unfair. Sure theres a lot of old pieces of shit out there. But there's new pieces of shit too. Cars end up pieces of shit because people don't maintain them. They don't end up that way just because they are old.

You should come out to the Pacific Northwest sometime. We don't salt the roads and there's 20 year old cars out here that have spent their entire lives out here and were never rustproofed from the factory or owner, and you crawl under them and it's still just surface rust. At 10 years, most cars and trucks out here are just coming into their stride.

I am constantly amazed to read in these forums about people talking about scrapping their 93-94-95 vehicles, then I have to remind myself "East Coast" All I have to say about this is that I cannot believe that in this day and age that someone cannot invent a deicer that is as cheap and effective as salt. I often wonder considering that the major centers of auto manufacturing all began around the Great Lakes region, that there isn't some conspircy even today between the automakers and the local governments to promote the continued use of salt on the roads, just so that cars get rapidly disintegrated so that the automakers can keep selling new ones. And what about all those stories of people seeing the salt trucks salting down dry pavement!!

I have no problem with this attitude if your willing to use new parts that are competitive to the GM ones. That is, if I'm a customer and I bring in a vehicle and I get quoted $400 for the cost of a new GM rear manifold and I get quoted $70 for the same one from the aftermarket. But if your telling them "ONLY new GM parts that you pay a 400% markup on over the aftermarket" then you are being unfair in claiming that "these owners" just want to get junky old worthless used parts.

The only cars that we work on that

That's really crazy. Were you repairing cars 10 years ago? Well if you were, why did a car that you fixed 8 years ago that was a dream to work on, is now nothing but a hassle to work on today? Do you have some brain defect that makes you forget anything you have learned how to do that is more than 7 years ago?

And as for hassles getting parts for old cars, that's a red herring too. On my 84 Chevy, the GM dealer has never listed an engine part I've requested as being obsolete or unavailable. I cannot find a simple thing like a 90 degree rubber emissions hose in the aftermarket, only a 90 degree heater hose that isn't an exact fit and costs $6, but the GM dealer has the exact hose needed, in stock, for $5. (of course, it's a hose that touches crankcase vapors and is not neophrene, but neither is the heater hose and this is a different argument anyway)

I would give some credence if you were talking 25 year old parts here, but the GM parts departments I've dealt with have no problem finding 10 year old parts. Maybe you ought to just fire your parts guy and hire another one that's more competent at finding parts and less competent at making up baloney excuses.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

We've had a few customers that were aware of what was involved in the recall, and requested that we not put the sealer in. We have no problem with that.

Probably because many GM vehicles are not properly designed, manufactured and assembled. Which is why I'm always employed. Lot's of poor quality trucks and cars to repair these days.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

There is a much higher likely hood that they will be in really poor shape as the years go on. I know very few people that actually look after their cars properly once a few years have gone by. It's just the disposable age we live in.

We don't salt the roads here in Calgary either. So we have many old cars running around that look quite good. What they look like has little to do with working on them or parts availability.

I would agree with you. I've run into a number of mechanics from down east over the years, and I would hate to work on the vehicles that they had to deal with. Everything was done with a torch.

Only in certain circumstances do we use aftermarket parts. It's usually because the original parts are unavailable, or they are so expensive as to be impossible to sell to the customer. GM rotors come to mind. Nobody wants to pay 400 dollars a rotor....and I can't blame them. But.....we've had problems with different aftermarket brands of rotors, and we always have to stand behind our work. We also use some clutch parts that are aftermarket, but from what I've seen, it's the identical stuff to the OEM parts at a much lower price. I'm ok with that. We don't seem to have quality troubles with these types of clutches. Certain vehicles, like the Corvette, get the original stuff. Most people that bring that kind of vehicle into the dealership expect you to use GM parts anyway.

I would say that it has a lot to do with the frequency that you do the work. One example, when the Pontiac Fiero's came out, I worked on them non-stop for about 7-8 years. Then as they stopped coming in the shops, we obviously saw less and less of them. Now we get maybe one or two a year. A couple months ago, I was up front and overheard a fellow wanting to bring in his Fiero, but the foreman was basically trying to run him out, telling him, we just don't work on those things anymore. I happen to have a soft spot for those cars, as I worked on them a lot, and made a lot of money working on them. So I said I'd work on it. It had some clutch problems. It ended up being a nightmare, no parts available, had to get some stuff from the wrecking yards, and wait a couple weeks for some other parts. You cannot make any money on the flat rate system when this scenario happens. You could simply charge the customer enough to cover all your fooling around, but we don't. So rather then hit the customer hard, we usually just decline the work. Some customers know the problems, and are willing to pay the price. Then we work on the car. Case in point: I just worked on an 81 Deville with the 4,6,8 engine. The customer loves the car, and he just pays whatever we charge him to work on it. I actually never touched Cadillac's back in those days (81), but as I said, it's just a car......same shit, different pile.

I'll disagree with you here. It really depends on the vehicle and year. You may have never run into an unavailable part on "your one car", but I, who happens to work on sometimes 10 cars a day, have run into this problem repeatedly. And you would be amazed at how new some of the vehicles are.

I get to look at the parts computer screens too, so I can verify that some parts go N/A very quickly. And I've dealt with the parts manager when they phone GM and see if the part changed up..or whatever. It happens Ted....and there isn't anyone more disgusted then we are when it happens. Sometimes the parts are available, but only from source, which means a

10 day wait for the part. This can happen with a 15 year old car, and it can happen with 4 month old car. Either way, it's a waste of our time. We have little choice with the new car, but some choice with the older vehicle as to whether we take the job or not.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

It's probably one of those "walk a mile in my shoes" scenario's. We literally don't have time to work on older cars. We have more then enough work to do on the late model cars, both warranty and regular customer pay work. We will also tell people right up front that we are far too expensive, labour rate and parts, to be fixing up many of their older cars. We even suggest that they take the vehicle to an independent shop in many cases. It would be very easy to take some peoples money, but I'm fortunate that I work in a dealership that takes some pride in not "ripping" people off. Yes, we are expensive in a lot of area's, but we never feed people a line about how unroadworthy their vehicle is, and that they are endangering the life of their family if they don't get something done. I'm sure everyone has heard that type of line from some shop somewhere.

We just tell them what it will cost to repair the vehicle, try to break the repairs down into what needs to be done "now" and what can wait for a few months, or whatever will suit their budget. I know I'm on a budget, and would have a hard time justifying some of the huge bills I see rolling out of our shop.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

Lan, I gotta tell ya that the dealership I go to sounds a lot like the one you work at but I like to hang onto my old cars. I have a '90 Suburban that runs great and is in excellent mechanical condition. I want to get some body work done on it and the dealer (who has an excellent body shop) has quoted me $3,000 US and says it isn't worth fixing. If I look at the cost of a new truck plus depreciation, I think that it's cheaper to fix the old truck. I know that it doesn't always work well for others but this method has served me well for many years. BTW, I do about 95% of all the work on the truck so upkeep is very cheap.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There are two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic - the quick and the dead. ~ Lord Dewar 1933 ~

Climbing into a hot car is like buckling on a pistol. It is the great equalizer. ~ Henry G. Felsen 1964 ~

Reply to
Rich B

We still do the occasional early 90's vehicle repair. For whatever reason, some people will bring their high mileage 15 year old vehicles in and spend a lot of money fixing them up. It's hard to blame them when it comes to the Chevy trucks, as the early 90's trucks are probably some the best they ever made. Quite reliable, and relatively cheap to fix. You get a 4X4 though, and the repair bills can add up real quick.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

Ian, Just reading through this thread. Your dead on with regards to parts being made N/A more often. BUT you should be thankful you don't do motorcycle repair. Other than one make that states they keep parts out to 10 years from model release (Honda) most drop special parts after about 5 years. Harley is in a class of their own in that most of the older bikes can use newer model parts, Mainly because HD moves like a glacier when it comes to model advancement. Makes parts bikes a real hot item.

At least GM did try to keep up with parts for new release vehicles. Chrysler didn't have a simple air filter for the new 2001 Caravan I had for almost 8 months. When I was covering almost 10,000 miles a month. Brought it in and kept hearing the same thing... Filter is not available yet...

Reply to
Steve W.

I see where you're coming from Ian. Yet once they pay your price it is they who are doing you a favor really. If you put it that you are doing the customers with older less valuable cars a favor by recommending they seek a more affordable repair shop, then it all makes sense now.

Reply to
SgtSilicon

If quick and a bit dirty doesn't bother you, you might try Maaco. The '86 Econoline I just replaced was painted and had a bit of body work done about six or seven years ago. Nothing I would have on my car but pretty good for $800 US. It rusted out more later but mostly in different places. FWIW YMMV DFB For email remove "_no_spam_"

Reply to
MisterSkippy

Thanks for the info, I do have a body man at thistime who will do the work cheaper than the dealer. This guy came over from Kosovo in the

1990's and besides being very reasonable, he does excellent work (but I think his real specialty is patching bullet holes lol). One of my neighbors took an old van to him and the work he did was nothing short of a miracle. The insurance company was going to total the van but the guy's price was low enough that they were able to save the van (incidently, it was a handicap-equipped van, with a chair lift so it was worth saving).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There are two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic - the quick and the dead. ~ Lord Dewar 1933 ~

Climbing into a hot car is like buckling on a pistol. It is the great equalizer. ~ Henry G. Felsen 1964 ~

Reply to
Rich B

ONLY a MORON would go to MACCO for body work. Do youlike Taiwanese Body Parts, an no brand "bondo" all thru out your ride? If Yes, then go to MACCO, who only sands with 80 GRIT Taiwanese paper, and TAIWANESE wanna-be red/burgundy Scotch-Brite (which is a trade name of 3M). Then you will get your vehicle painted whit shit Sherman-Williams auto paint (worse then Speicer-Heins, (SP?)). So you will end up with the shittist of body work, the shittest paint, and the most retarded people in the AUTO-body game doing it. Ohh yea good advice if you drive a YUGO and think it's a 86 Camaro. Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

They are light-years ahead of anything else out there. BTW: I know some of the SOB that DESIGN them, DO YOU? Charles

Reply to
Charles Bendig

You believe whatever you want Charles about American built trucks. Many of the parts aren't built in the States anyway. But you probably don't know that. Who really cares if you know the engineers that design them? Next time you see them, tell them to keep up the shitty work, it keeps me busy!

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

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