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... and you might be surprised at what I turned up. I couldn't find any information on GM using it, but what I turned up about Jaguar was interesting.
The entire list of URLs I turned up on the subject is below. I haven't filtered anything out and the balance of good versus bad comments is as I found it. Searching on Google for "Bar's Leaks" (in its many spellings found on the 'net) along with the names of the various manufacturers you quote turned up only references to Jaguar, except on the Bar's Leaks web site which I don't expect to be objective. I have never heard of "hotbot", but will give it a try.
The upshot of these pages is: ask any Jaguar enthusiast what they think about Bar's Leaks, but stand out of arm's reach when you do. This stuff, and Jaguar's recommendation to use it, have been largely blamed for the cooling problems that plague the XJ6, XJ12 and XJS in later life. UK enthusiasts end up replacing the radiator, while US enthusiasts prefer to have the radiator "rodded" to remove this stuff that completely blocks the lower part of the radiator.
Chances are that this is partly to do with the design of the cooling system, and that the 9000 won't be affected in the same way.
It has been suggested that Jaguar recommended this stuff simply to avoid the embarrassment of water leaks on a brand new (expensive) luxury car with an engine that should have been better-manufactured. Perhaps Suzuki took the same line on your motorcycle? To me, this seems a plausible alternative to assuming that Bar's Leaks is intended as some sort of cooling system conditioner. It is, after all, first and foremost a leak-stop product. It is also a mistake to assume that automotive engineers, even those working for prestige car manufacturers, always have the interests of the second or third owner of the car at heart, and that they never make mistakes.
It appears that Jaguar neither install this stuff in new cars nor recommend it any longer in older cars, contrary to what the Jaguar handbook advised when these cars were new.
My point is not that Bar's Leaks damages cooling systems, but rather that one of the more weighty statements used to support the argument for Bar's Leaks is that there is a long list of manufacturers that install Bar's Leaks at the factory, and, to me anyway, Jaguar is a very influential name. Since the information I found elsewhere seems to cast doubt on the validity of this list, or at least to suggest that it is out-of-date, I cannot no longer accept this argument without further investigation.
For the record, I have never used Bar's Leaks in any of my 9000s and I have never had any cooling system problems either. Like you, I change my coolant regularly as per the Saab service schedule and change the thermostat at the same time. Do you think it possible that it is this, rather than the addition of "Bar's Leaks" that might account for the lack of cooling system problems? I have already posted a couple of times photos of the inside of my Aero engine (and now have photos from inside my CSE auto engine and will soon have those of my CSE manual when I change the coolant). These show a small part of the cooling system (inside the cylinder head and thermostat housing), but what they do show appears in factory condition. I have no reason to believe any other part of the cooling system is not in the same condition.
I have yet to see an objective test where two identical cars were maintained correctly as per the manufacturer's recommendation, one treated with Bar's Leaks and the other not, then driven for, say, 100K miles and 5 years and inspected.
So far, while there is not much evidence to suggest that it does any harm to a healthy 9000 cooling system, you have not presented any evidence that it does any good.
Here are those URLs.
http://www.zip.com.au/~wickers/page_6.htm
http://www.usinternet.com/users/kyoung/jaguar.htm
http://www.jagbits.com/techbits.html
http://www.far-out.demon.co.uk/cardiy/servlog.htm
http://www.jag-lovers.org/books/xj-s/19-Coolmods.html
http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/SinglePassRadiator.html
posted by 62.253....
, Sun, 25 Aug 2002 13:26:13, Sun, 25 Aug 2002 23:46:17
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