1999 Chevy Malibu Funny car noise

SQUASHEDFLATSQUIRELL

MEMBER
1999 CHEVROLET MALIBU

Noises problem
1999 Chevy Malibu 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic

I had a leak in my Chevy Malibu. Mechanic told me it was leaking anitfreeze and water from the exhaust manifold. We put 'liquid copper' I think it was called, into the car, and it fixed the leak. Now, the leak has stopped ( and I know this is not a permanent fix ) and the car is still making a weird noise. Not every time, but if I drive for more than about 20 to 30 minutes straight, sometimes when I turn the car off after about 30 seconds it will make a draining/bubbling/gurgling noise from about the same spot that the car was origionally leaking from. As far as we can tell, there's no leak now, we've not had to add any more fluids to the car and there's not any fluids mixing or leaking anywhere else in the vehicle. Any idea of what this could be, and should I be concerned about it?
Thanks in advance.
Sandra

1 Reply

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

On you car, If the liquid copper was not used as directed on the label to the T. Then I would expect you have some internal clogging happening.

How much was used?
One Bottle Treats up to a 6 Gallon Cooling System Capacity. I would think your system well under half of this. IF a whole bottle was used then there is more inside waiting to be activated.

I believe this product activates when oxygen is present. If there is an air pocket inside of the engine or heater core, then it may be coming actived and solidifying where there is no leak, just passages that were meant to stay open.

Was the Antifreeze, completely removed before dumping the goop in?

NOTE: All Antifreeze MUST be flushed from the cooling system & block before using
this product. Please read the tech sheet on this product for more information.

If the directions were not followed to a tee, then contact the manufacturer (bar's leak) to get their recommendation.

I Would think first flush the system as cleanly as possible. I would get a few bottles of flush and add them, let it set for a few hours then start draining it. Then fill with water and run the engine up to temp and drain it again. Keep doing this with water until it comes out clean.

We had a car in the other day that had a bad headgasket. This one was a very expensive to replace. She wanted to try some block sealant similiar to the one you used I suspect. If I were to follow the precedure to do this right, It was around $350-400. VERY labor intensive in this case.