Why ? Because the heater core is a *%$#&^% to replace! I just did mine and it’s a miserable job, at least if you are 6’3” and have a back problem! If you don’t have a back problem before you start, you will by the time you are done! ;-> I got it changed, but I don’t want to do it again, so I certainly didn’t buy the cheapest one around.
I’ve used “sealers” with good results in the past, and was considering this approach about a year and a half ago, as a temporary repair for a leaking radiator, which I did then replace. Sealers have to be poured into the top of the radiator, preferably with the engine hot and running and circulated through the system for some time, for them to work properly. If they aren’t circulated immediately, they will cause “clogs” in the cooling system. They can clog radiators so badly that the only “fix” is to “rod out” the core, and I doubt that aluminum cores will take much of that.
I cannot see a way to do this in an LT-1. I don’t believe that pouring the sealer into the expansion tank of the LT-1 system will circulate it fast enough to be effective, and I guess that there’s a high probability that it would clog up in the plumbing under the tank, in the flow restrictor, or in the various hoses or fittings, before it ever would get to the radiator or heater core. The LT-1 is known for clogging the heater core anyway. I thought about bringing the engine up to temperature, shutting it off, draining some coolant, pulling off one of the radiator hoses, pouring the sealer in the hose, refilling and bleeding the system as quickly as possible. But I never felt that I could do this fast enough, and that there would be a good chance of clogging the air bleeder, anyway, so I gave up on the idea.
Has anyone here ever successfully added sealer to their LT-1? How?
