in my "blown headgasket" thread i heard it mentioned a couple of times. what is the story on it?

Im actually wondering because the gasket on my water pump is leaking but i wanna drive like 300 miles in a couple of days and id rather not replace it right now if i can help it.

is the bars stop leak stuff mess of the xjs cooling system or something?

i was also thinking of taking off the hose and putting it just inside the water pump and then flushing it so there isn't a bunch in the system since i don't need it elsewhere and it would probably start to clog.

 

I've had good and bad results with stop-leak, although admittedly I've never tried it in the Jag.
I had a car that had a slow leak in the heater core and it was the middle of winter. I put in stop leak and it stopped the leak for almost 2 years.
I also had a car with a seepage problem and tried the stop leak. It plugged up the radiator cap and prevented it from venting into the overflow tank, causing LOTS of leaks to appear everywhere.

I'm sure others will chime in, but my guess is that your results will vary greatly.

 

It's called Bar's Leaks, and over the years it will clog up your cooling system. If something is leaking, fix it!

 

To give you a visible example of how the stuff works, chuck an egg in some boiling water, you'll see the albumen separate and set in rubbery white blobs.

But as said, if you have a leak fix it. The stop leak stuff is really only a get you home cure and can ultimately gum up passages in the radiator and heater cores.

 

Bad stuff.

You'd be better off renting a car for the trip rather than paying to fix the damage later.

It won't work anyways if the leak is at the water pump shaft ... too much motion.

 

Bad idea.... Most "quick fix" snake oil will just cause more damage down the line. No replacement for replacement as the saying goes.