Does Bluecol cause leaks ?

[morrisminor]

I've had my car 6 weeks and thought I'd change the antifreeze as it appeared to have pink in and wasn't registering on my antifreeze tester so I flushed the radiator and put a 70/30 mix of bluecol in, after a 12 mile run I've a spot of water appearing to come out of a head stud.  Until I take the car out again I won't know if it is leaking. 
My question is,  would bluecol cause this or is it coincidence?

[Reckless Rat]

Ethylene glycol ( blue or green) antifreeze, is thinner than water so it can find weaknesses in your cooling syste.
If there was pink in it before, which is OAT, it's not compatible with ethylene glycol so I hope you flushed it out properly before changing. It's not unusual for the odd leak to appear. I might get shouted down for this, but if the cooling system is in decent order a dose of radweld will usually cure it.

[John Mason]

I agree with Reckers and there is nothing wrong in using Radweld if you follow the instructions on how to use it.  You could also check the tightness of the head studs don’t just do the one that’s leaking go around the order of tightening the studs starting with the centre one. Just feel the tightness of them with the appropriate length spanner you may find that they are tight and do not require further attention.

John Mason

[Chris KC]

The radiator is supposed to be filled with water not antifreeze; though a corrosion inhibitor (and anti-freeze does contains those) is generally a good idea. As I'm fond of repeating, a car using anti-freeze will run hotter than one with plain water in the radiator. When anti-freeze was adopted by the motor industry cooling system capacities were increased to accommodate this, the Austin Seven was not one of the cars so modified.

[David Stepney]

Ethylene glycol ( blue or green) antifreeze, is thinner than water so it can find weaknesses in your cooling syste.
If there was pink in it before, which is OAT, it's not compatible with ethylene glycol so I hope you flushed it out properly before changing. It's not unusual for the odd leak to appear. I might get shouted down for this, but if the cooling system is in decent order a dose of radweld will usually cure it.

I use a dose of Barr’s Leaks in the cooling system each time I change the coolant. I use a good quality ethylene glycol antifreeze at a 25% mixture.

[Steve Jones]

No, Bluecol doesn't cause leaks but it will take advantage of any places in the system that are susceptible to leaks for the reasons given above.

Steve