Bar's Leak
#1
10-30-2009, 06:38 PM
Bar's Leak
ok so at this very moment im one broke ****... i have a small leak in my head gasket and was quoted about 1400 for it to be fixed on my 99.5 a4 1.8t. i thought about using barsleak on it.... has anyone used it before? with wut results? can it be removed from the system when i wanna go fix the problem the correct way??? this car is my daily driver and im kinda stuck on figuring wut to do. thanx in advance
#2
10-30-2009, 06:54 PM
absoloutely not. sorry to say but a leaking headgasket is not a $9.95 fix.
however if you know how to do some wrenching yourself, you can fix it for less then half of that quoted price. a new head gasket is $70-100. new head bolt set is $40. the head bolt tool is $30, but sometimes you can find someone online to rent/borrow it from.
most of the time you want to do a timing belt job when taking the head off but its not 100% necessary. you do need someone who knows what they are doing if you expect to get the head off without putting the car in service position. there are some tricks that arent in any manuals. if you have over 50k miles on your timing belt i would just do it now, the full kit with everything is $250 or so.
where are you located? there are often people online who are looking to make a quick $100 and a case of beer or pizza for jobs like this.
what are your compression test numbers from each cylinder?
however if you know how to do some wrenching yourself, you can fix it for less then half of that quoted price. a new head gasket is $70-100. new head bolt set is $40. the head bolt tool is $30, but sometimes you can find someone online to rent/borrow it from.
most of the time you want to do a timing belt job when taking the head off but its not 100% necessary. you do need someone who knows what they are doing if you expect to get the head off without putting the car in service position. there are some tricks that arent in any manuals. if you have over 50k miles on your timing belt i would just do it now, the full kit with everything is $250 or so.
where are you located? there are often people online who are looking to make a quick $100 and a case of beer or pizza for jobs like this.
what are your compression test numbers from each cylinder?
#4
10-30-2009, 07:26 PM
you cant diagnose a bad head gasket without a compression test, or atleast oil mixing with coolant, or oil or coolant in the cylinders and a big cloud of smoke behind you. if its still drivable take it to a mechanic and have them do a compression test and tell you the numbers. you can do it yourself if you buy the $20 tool.
if the head is warped for some reason it might need to be machined flat again, which is what 'shaved' could have meant. unless the engine overheated you rarely have to do this. maybe they meant you just have to take a razor and shave off the old gasket from the contact surfaces, which is not hard at all.
there are several people in western CT, NY or jersey/ long island that take side jobs here and there. try posting in the regional section of audizine.com forums.
if the head is warped for some reason it might need to be machined flat again, which is what 'shaved' could have meant. unless the engine overheated you rarely have to do this. maybe they meant you just have to take a razor and shave off the old gasket from the contact surfaces, which is not hard at all.
there are several people in western CT, NY or jersey/ long island that take side jobs here and there. try posting in the regional section of audizine.com forums.
#5
10-30-2009, 08:33 PM
If the head is warped, no, it wont work. However, regardless of the naysayers 
, Bar's 'Block Seal' works pretty damn good on small leaks to the coolant passages. Used it before with good results. Wont last forever though, but could get you through the winter.
, Bar's 'Block Seal' works pretty damn good on small leaks to the coolant passages. Used it before with good results. Wont last forever though, but could get you through the winter.
#6
10-30-2009, 08:50 PM
The only things I don't like about leakstop compounds are:
1 - if they can plug a crack or hole in a gasket, they have the ability to plug a capillary that is meant to flow
2 - (relatively unlikely but possible) the plug could come loose or come apart and lodge somewhere else in the engine with detrimental results.
I'd use it as a last resort as in, broken down on the highway and need to get it home or to a shop for repair. Better off scraping the cash together and fixing it right if the diagnosis is a bad gasket.
1 - if they can plug a crack or hole in a gasket, they have the ability to plug a capillary that is meant to flow
2 - (relatively unlikely but possible) the plug could come loose or come apart and lodge somewhere else in the engine with detrimental results.
I'd use it as a last resort as in, broken down on the highway and need to get it home or to a shop for repair. Better off scraping the cash together and fixing it right if the diagnosis is a bad gasket.
#7
10-30-2009, 09:53 PM
i see wut u guys are saying. i would perfer to scrap the money together and get it fixed all together, but if i were to put in the barsleak i can still get the problem fixed? do they remove wut ever got put in? and i heard it has to be put in thru the radiator but we dont have a radiator cap so will it go in thru the top radiator hose?
#8
10-30-2009, 10:41 PM
Top hose... And yes, it'll come out. Prolly wouldnt even see where it was at. All it does is fill little holes in the gasket with a glass like material. And no, it wount fill the little oil passages. It takes the heat combustion to fuse it.
#10
10-31-2009, 02:25 PM
Barsleak is for the radiator nothing more. Think about the amount of pressure thats on the head gasket from the combustion camber. If theres a leak, theres no easy fix. Replace the head gasket before its to late and your on the side of the road. A head gasket is easy to do, it just takes a lil time.