okay, let me preface this by saying i don't believe in fix-its in a bottle.
so, the subaru developed an coolant leak. for the life of me, i couldn't figure out where it was going. no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil. all the hoses look solid, including the new water pump i installed when i did the timing belts, 15,000 miles ago.... new gaskets and stuff is going to run $2k to have done (and, NO, i am not doing it myself, as i don't have the time to sort it and we need the car in days, not weeks).
oh, did i just mention that i did the timing belts? i did, didn't i. which included putting new coolant in the system, etc.
so, i get online and find out that subarus are notorious for leaking coolant at the cylinder heads. my particular year, a 2000, tends to lose coolant to the outside. THEN i find out that the 'fix', per a recall bulletin (!!!) is to use 'subaru coolant conditioner'. AND if you change the coolant, you have to put new 'conditioner' in with it. i didn't know this and didn't put any in. looking further, it seems that this is the same stuff as Holt's "radweld".
radweld it costs $1/bottle on amazon. i ordered three bottles, because shipping is $5, regardless.
it shows up in these cute little blue bottles. all three fit in a padded envelope (no kidding, that is how they shipped it). i figure, WTF, a $1 (plus shipping) fix, or $1900, and i doubt it can hurt. besides, i am SURE that subaru's engineers know a LOT more than me and this is their official fix. and i am not kidding, it really is.
i put it in.
i'll be damned if it doesn't seem to be working.
i must say, i got really suspicious when i found black chunky stuff at the radiator cap area, prior to reading up subaru's 'fix'. now i know exactly what that stuff was.