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Black pepper for radiator leak?

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woodsguy

woodsguy

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Was looking at a post for quick mc fixes and they said black pepper to fix a leak to get you home. Never heard this "fix". Anyone verify?
 
especially on an air-cooled engine.
yes, it can work. Sometimes, depending on the radiator cap, you can crack it open, but leave the cap in place. Relieving the pressure can help slow the leak, too, but you'll lose cooling capacity. For bigger holes, use restaurant grind or chunky salsa.
 
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I have never heard of it. I like liquid cooled bikes but I like my old 2005;air cooled Honda. It's so simple. I have read that Euro EPA will be the demise of air cooled bikes.
I will be interested to see if anyone on TWT has ever put black pepper in the radiator/motor on a M/C.
I put black pepper on baloney
 

How to Plug Up Your Radiator Leak With Pepper

Old school auto repair works. Some emergency repairs are still being used. One of them is the use of black pepper to seal small radiator leaks. When black pepper is introduced into the system, the small particles travel to the leak where they expand and seal the leak. The pepper does not...
itstillruns.com itstillruns.com
 
Never heard of that. But my grandfather did once repair a cracked block with a mixture of ashes and milk. My grandmother actually suggested it, as she'd seen it used to repair a cast-iron stove. It worked.
 
Yep, old "in a pinch" fix, but it only really works for pinhole leaks, and not all the time either. I had to use some once in Jamaica, and it did help some, but did not seal completly, and I'd have to stop and add some more ever so often. A bit of JB Weld might be better to pack... unless you have some steak for later, that is.
 
Yep, old quick fix used it on a 69 Chevelle radiator, had a small pinhole size leak, pulled into the Hill in Bellville and let the car cool down while we ate a tasty
burger, borrowed a pepper shaker from the owner and poured it in the radiator. Fired it up it leaked for about ten minutes then slowly the leak mostly plugged
drove it back out to the House and put in another radiator (had a 69 malibu parts car at the house)

But if I had the any time at all I would grab some JB weld clean the area with a scotchbrite pad and seal it up, did this on the ZRX once in Llano after a bike in front of
me pitched up some chip seal and punctured my rad, drained the radiator walked into the NAPA grabbed some mixed it up and patched it, then walked across the street
to Coopers ate more BBQ than really needed waddled out to the bike it felt fairly well cured (assuming the temp of the radiator assisted this) and that radiator never leaked
on me for 5 years. I replaced it for a cross country trip and a few years later when another ZRX member needed a radiator in a pinch I gave it to him and last I heard
he was still running it.
 
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Back in the 1980's I hit a dear in the back country late at night in a little Subaru wagon. It caused a lot of damage to the radiator and the only thing nearby was a tiny cafe so I walked down the road, borrowed some pepper and a 5-gallon jug of water, trudged back and put the pepper in.

Worked great, allowing me to get back home after a long start / stop drive. Problem is the pepper also caused the thermostat to not flow much water so I could only drive 10 or 15 miles and have to pull over to let it cool down enough to continue another 10 or 15 miles.

So, it was a mixed success...
 
kubotamiketx said:
Back in the 1980's I hit a dear in the back country late at night in a little Subaru wagon. It caused a lot of damage to the radiator and the only thing nearby was a tiny cafe so I walked down the road, borrowed some pepper and a 5-gallon jug of water, trudged back and put the pepper in.

Worked great, allowing me to get back home after a long start / stop drive. Problem is the pepper also caused the thermostat to not flow much water so I could only drive 10 or 15 miles and have to pull over to let it cool down enough to continue another 10 or 15 miles.

So, it was a mixed success...
Click to expand...
Was wondering if there was a downside!
 
I used pepper to stop a pin hole leak until I had the money to have the leak fixed at the radiator shop. Used stop leak on a heater core leak with success .
 
Pepper was the thing… it works and also remind us why folks with colitis should not eat pepper … it does not dissolve 😲. Here is the real deal…

Bar's Leaks History and Heritage

Bar's Leaks History and Heritage. Our products are affordable and safe for all vehicles. Contact us today for more information.
barsleaks.com
 
Bars Leaks

Back in the late 70s I was working in a Pettigrew Smith auto parts we had a young man come in with a leaking radiator, we sold him some bars leak ( they used to sell a small tube for quick repairs) and gave him a coke and told him to just hang out and drink the coke while his car cooled down enough to safely remove the radiator cap. One of the guys went out with him and helped him remove the cap, then explained to him to start the car and once the water started circulating well to put in the bars leaks.

We were all back behind the counter when we saw him turn to the store window and wave and point at the radiator with a thumbs up then we all looked in
shock when he dropped the whole tube in the radiator unopened popped on the cap shut the hood and drove off. He never came back no clue what happened
but fairly sure that the radiator never got hot enough to melt the plastic tube the bars leaks was in
 
woodsguy said:
Was looking at a post for quick mc fixes and they said black pepper to fix a leak to get you home. Never heard this "fix". Anyone verify?
Click to expand...
Maybe 25 years ago a trusted tech told me to do the same for my car …..pepper in the coolant recovery tank….it was an old Peugeot , worked for a short time (week or so)
 
The pepper will plug a small leak, it also plugs up the complete cooling system. Personally I would stop several times and fill up with water rather than do all the damage the pepper does. Either that or sell the vehicle as soon as you get home. You might get by doing a complete flush of the cooling system afterwards. I used it in a car and I later pulled the engine down and the water jackets were filled with crud and I had to get the plugged rad recored to clean it out as well.
 
budzrex said:
Bars Leaks

Back in the late 70s I was working in a Pettigrew Smith auto parts we had a young man come in with a leaking radiator, we sold him some bars leak ( they used to sell a small tube for quick repairs) and gave him a coke and told him to just hang out and drink the coke while his car cooled down enough to safely remove the radiator cap. One of the guys went out with him and helped him remove the cap, then explained to him to start the car and once the water started circulating well to put in the bars leaks.

We were all back behind the counter when we saw him turn to the store window and wave and point at the radiator with a thumbs up then we all looked in
shock when he dropped the whole tube in the radiator unopened popped on the cap shut the hood and drove off. He never came back no clue what happened
but fairly sure that the radiator never got hot enough to melt the plastic tube the bars leaks was in
Click to expand...
That stuff actually works. Autozone sells something similar.
Also have heard to fix fuel tank leaks stuff bubble gum into the hole and the gasoline will harden the gum up like cement.
 
At age 72 maybe I need to think about seasoning my food with black pepper. Maybe that is the problem All this time I thought it was a prostate about the size of a small ruby red grapefruit. :-P Maybe get better sleep.
 
woodsguy said:
Was looking at a post for quick mc fixes and they said black pepper to fix a leak to get you home. Never heard this "fix". Anyone verify?
Click to expand...
Yes! A farmer in North Dakota told me this trick to fix a leaky radiator on my '68 Cougar XR7. It does indeed work.
 
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