YotaSon

I have a 94 Toyota Pickup and a mechanic that looked at it told me there was "pepper" as in salt n pepper in the radiator! What the! I am no mechanic by any means. I was told its a temporary fix for a head gasket? Any input would help me. I have no leaks of any kind. I had the radiator flushed and its good now.

04 Rocko Taco

It can be. I dont hear of a lot of people doing it...but they sell stop leak stuff, little bits of copper and suck thing as a temporary way of plugging small holes, and I have heard of it before as pepper being a "home made" version of this, sounds like your PO though was a real dumb ***.

EDIT: people do stupid things with radiators. See: mythbusters episode about plugging leaking radiator with raw egg yolks...

wjwerdna

i was just going to mention the mythbusters and the egg-yoke not being a bust, maybe he put his entire breakfast in... if i were you id check for bacon in the transmission

if you arent leaking anywhere, and arent in a week or two after the flush, sounds like youre good to go, just keep an eye on your fluids and for any other problems the PO may have taken shortcuts on

Bumpin' Yota

huh? plz elaborate

04 Rocko Taco

look it up on youtube or something. The myth said that you could bust put an egg (out of the shell of course, and also raw) into the radiator, and it would plug a hole. I could've sworn it didn't work...I thought the engine just heated like crazy...but maybe it did stop the leak, I dont remember...

wjwerdna

search google for mythbusters+radiator+egg

they started the engine after pouring in the egg, after jammin' a screwdriver in it and it stopped leaking... therefore = plausible
also try searching for MythBusters+"car capers"

Elton

Welcome to YotaTech... i think your truck is cooking up a dinner for you lol.....

MMA_Alex

yeah im pretty sure the egg thing worked if i remember correctly. they really beat on that thing.

4Runner 4Play

Yeah, as said before.... people do stupid things. Except that they just don't realize that at the time. I think we've all been there once or ten times!! But what Iam interested is what did the mech. say bout the whole thing? I mean if I came across that in my field of work, I'd be like "WTF?!?" Tell the guy straight-up what happened - how to solve the problem... how much moola, blah blah blah. I dont' know, kinda surprized I guess. But as for a fix?.... I'd drain and refill (with a 75% water and 25 antifreeze), repeat 2 or so times while each time you fill, take it for a drive. Up to operating temps. When she cools.. do it again. You might still see an little bit here and there, Buts generally, it wont hurt the engine or rad.

Cheers, Lee Hathaway



Wow, I just re-read what you said and I realized you already answed me.
Nevermind!! Must be the good beer.

JamesD

The pepper works. I use it in all cars instead of stop leak. It works better and cheaper. It is for small leaks. It is possible to stop a small head gasket leak but usually it doesn't. Keep a small shaker of table pepper in your truck when your on the trail or even on a long trip, you would be amazed of how well and fast that stuff works. They egg thing isn't true. I tried it and it made one heck of a mess. Remember these are for small leaks not split radiator hose or anything where the coolant is pissing out rather than dripping or seeping.

James

mr toytech

the pepper is true. as jamesd siad it is for small leaks and does work. it has saved my a** a couple of times. probabley had a small leak in rad. or elsewhere. i doubt it would stop a headgasket leak but maybe possible.

04 Rocko Taco

So people really do this **** thats crazy.

INFINITY

i have also heard that saw dust will work but i wouldnt use it unless i was way out in the field.

metalhed

chew will work as well

Bumpin' Yota

i hear cement dust will work too!! about 12lbs of it should do the trick!!


(jk dont do this, serious damage will occur if you do)

OutdoorLiving

Don't use the stop-leak stuff you can pick up in the auto parts stores.

It will DESTROY your water pump and you'll end up replacing that too. Not to mention, you'll be cleaning that crap out of your cooling system for the lifetime of the vehicle. One of my many mistakes I learned in the past when I was in a pinch. I should have just had the damn thing towed from east-bufu than try to wing it.