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So the verdict is - very small leak through the cylinder wall in the number 8 cylinder.

It says not to use with antifreeze, I’m guessing water on first application, once it’s sealed use the mix?

yes . . antifreeze interferes with the cure of ceramic seal. after you get it sealed and you know you have stopped the leak, you can run all the antifreeze you like ! get it good and hot -not ring killing hot just try to hit 220 .. i always run fresh water in and keep it coming out [flush it w/ engine running no t- stat ]until its very clean. then close it up and then run it with only water and ceramic seal until its up to 200-215 .

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ceramic seal will work fine after its cured, with antifreeze...... heres another brands same product... scroll to the bottom. read the last sentence .. http://irontite.com/ceramicmotorseal/

Wh haven’t you pressure checked it?
Dougy

flush it out real good and use water only... get the temp up to 200 or a little higher like its about to overheat. the reason to do that is it will open the crack real good. if it stops the leak, it will prob. never leak again unless you get it hotter than when you made this repair. there are many products with many issues. this works really well and last. Buy this ! https://www.jegs.com/i/Moroso/710/3...=4579878248437694&utm_content=Moroso

Update for everyone:

- I drained the coolant this morning. Been in the motor for just under 3 years and it looked fine. Very little sediment/rust and no oil in it.
- I refilled with tap water only and took a drive. No issues.

When the IronTite kit comes in, I will do the "flush" and then the ceramic seal (with distilled water). I will let you know how it turns out.

So I thought about this more and went ahead and pulled the T-Stat and reverse flushed the cooling system by blasting water through the t-stat neck out of the lower hose. I used a shop vac to then blew air the same way until it was pretty dry.

I didn't see anything besides watered down coolant come out - no sediment or gunk. Since this system seems pretty clean, should I bother with using a flush product at this point or go straight to the ceramic sealer? I am pretty confident that there is pretty close to zero anti-freeze left in the system and I had no issues with my heater core as far as lack of heat.

I am trying to avoid having to put the t-stat back together, running the car, then having to tear it down (while hot) to get the flush out completely so it doesn't sit in the system. Am I asking for more trouble using a flush product? Or should I just use it since I bought it?

What about leaving the t-stat out just for the flushing process so I can just pop the hose to flush? My car has AC so one of those housing bolts is a PITA to get on when the motor is nice and hot.