73 stingray. I notices a small coolant drip on the left front side. Cant see were its coming from. Leaves about a 3" circle of coolant on the driveway before stopping. This takes overnight to develop.
Are those radiator stop leak fluids ok to use as a first try to stop this?

 

i believe that they stop a leak and plug some things that you don't want plugged. it's a band aid, not a fix...

 

You might want to check the weep hole at the bottom of your water pump. The coolant may be dripping down from there and around the timing cover to the left side.

 

Check the simple things first like a loose hose clamp.

 

If you notice it only when coming back from a drive, the fan can be playing tricks on you with regards to where the actual leak is coming from.

Take a good look around and as stated check the simple things like hoses clamps, water pump, thermostat housing.

If you need a radiator or need it recored due to a leak, stop leak is not the answer.

Think positive and find the source.

 

Good advice from all, but if it is leaking from driver's side check the upper radiator hose first. Tighten hose clamp. If leak on passenger side, check the lower radiator hose. Locate source of leak, then you will know best method to stop the leak and repair. Could be a very easy 5 minute fix.

After driving car, turn off engine, raise hood and inspect upper and lower hoses; water pump and bottom of radiator.

 

check l/s motor mount there is a freeze out plug behind it , it could be seeping ,mine was on a 40,000 mile car that was sitting in storage, i filled rad started up and vollia ,a water leak i planned on doing a lot of work but freezeout plugs were not on the list

 

I had a cracked solder joint on the radiator input fitting on my 77, took forever to find it. I am pretty fair with soldering and it wass still a pita to fix. Did the same thing, left a little puddle as it cooled off, left a green line from the fitting to the bottom of the tank, just never seemed to be wet

 

Believe it or not...I got the same thing small amounts of radiator fluid on the lower left corner of the support. I can get under the car and see green fluid starting to form a drip but the car never ever drips!!! I have put card board down, etc. and it never drips yet after driving it has been wet to the touch down there in the very lower left hand corner and the paint on the new radiator support has peeled back about the size of a quarter from what appears to be continuous exposure to radiator fluid. I had a complete new DeWitts & radiator support installed 10K miles ago and have never noticed the wet surface until we did some major front suspension work. I did noticed that the radiator overfill tank would go down about 12oz after 6 months but really thought nothing of it thinking that it was evaporating or something. Still have not found the leak...then again I only have looked about 4 times and can't for the life of me figure out where it is coming from but I have a feeling as other have suggested it is somehow coming from the water pump and not the radiator. Good luck with your search...one day I will get the urge to figure out where its coming from as for me its one step at a time and does not seem to be hurting anything right now.

 

Do you have access to a cooling system pressure tester? I think you can get a loaner from AZ.

I had a leak and used a tester to find a hole in my hose. It is a lot easier working around a cool engine than a hot one.

Just my .02.

 

I had a pin hole on the bottom of my upper hose, that only leaked after getting warmed up then it would seal after cooling down. It was hard to locate, but I felt around when it was hot. It left that same 3 inch spot on the floor, good luck.

 

i had a big leak squirting out of my 72 rad.
put in stop leak as a joke.
it worked!
10 years later i began to wonder "is my original rad shot?" "how long can stop leak last?"
at Ecklers i picked up a new but damaged in shipping rad for $50.
so i replaced the original