[Vwdiesel] radiator flush question--or--Where the Service Road Ends

[S. Shourds]

Every year at Thanksgiving, I drive from Ft. Worth to Southern Indiana 
to visit my family.  This year, on my way northbound on I-55 I needed to 
fill up right at the Arkansas/Missouri state line.  Seeing  a gas 
station ahead in the darkness, I took the service road, which promptly 
ended.  Not with a bunch of warning signs, barricades, etc.; it just 
ended in a deep muddy hole with a bunch of bent-over fence and 
sign-posts.  One of those times when you piece together what's coming up 
at 45 mph and just say, "heck."  I'm pretty sure the VW caught air.  I 
regretted not getting the optional "Dixie" horn. 

When the bouncing stopped in a steaming, smoking haze, I flung the door 
open to evaluate.  The plastic skid plate and side skirts were about 40 
feet behind the car.  The oil pan, to my tremendous surprise, was not 
shattered.  There was minimal body damage, mainly concentrated on the 
front license plate (the state's problem, not mine).  I gingerly started 
it up, rolled forward, crossed the grassy median to get on the highway, 
and slowly accelerated to road speed, then exited to the aforementioned 
gas station.  The good news, Diesel was $2.51/US gal.  The bad news, 
there was a really significant radiator leak.  Being somewhat 
overwrought at the moment, I wasn't thinking well, so I dialed for 
counsel.  At 11:15 PM Central Time, Dad would just slur into the phone, 
having been asleep for hours.  Fortunately, Loren lives on the west 
coast and was still awake.  Reassured and holding a can of Bars Leak, I 
set out to do something I'd sworn on the graves of my forebears never to 
do and used a "fix-in-a-can".  Imagine my surprise when it worked, and I 
drove the rest of the 400 miles to Indiana and the 900 miles back on it. 
Now, I'm home and need to actually fix the car for real.  I know the 
radiator is cracked or holed somewhere.  I _think_ the a/c condenser is 
OK.  Looks like the lower-hanging radiator got smacked by a bent-over 
fencepost or something.  The radiator should be easy.  The hard part is 
getting the cheap make-up coolant and the Bars Leak out of the system.  
I don't know what's in the stuff.  My first though is to drain the 
system, fill with water, run to operating temp, drain, and refill, but I 
don't know if that will clear the Bars Leak.  Is there any merit to 
radiator flush solutions like:   
http://www.germanautoparts.com/Chemicals/Coolants/Lubro-Moly  ?  Any 
other tips?

I'll run it by the insurance and see what they say.  I'm a little 
worried that there's a clunk in the front suspension that wasn't there 
before.  I'm also not looking forward to buying a new skid plate.  It 
appears it helped a little.  After market aluminum ones would run about 
$400. 

I went back to the scene on the way back home to take pictures.  I'm 
trying to figure out a way to send the State of Arkansas a bill.  At the 
very least, I need to get them to fix it.  While I was taking pictures, 
a pickup truck slid to a stop right before the pit.  Considering that, 
the enormous ruts, and the run-down fence posts, this is a common 
occurrence. 

I hope everyone else had better Thanksgiving travels. 

-Shalyn

-00 VW Jetta TDI
236,000 mi ground, 4 feet air.