Have HM Oils worked for anyone??

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k2xj

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I have a 95 Jeep Cherokee with a small oil leak from the rear main seal. I know that the HM oils are quality oils (regardless of maker) but does anyone have any examples where they have actually stopped a leak??

Thanks
 
My leak is pretty small...only about a drop per 24 hours but i definetly dont want it getting any bigger and would like to see it stopped without having to spend the big bucks for a new seal installed
 
at least for me it depends on your leak
I purchased a 91 cadillac deville off a family member who swore it had been changed with m1 syn.. I put m1 syn in it and it started leaking badly.. Im going to say at least an ounce per day more if it was hot out. on the front seal/head gasket area.

I lived with it for 2 monthes hoping it would stop.. it didnt so I used the castrol HM oil I won on BITOG and over 2000 miles it stopped it back to maybe a drop or 2
(it was hard to tell engine was pretty oily for sometime)
and it eventually stopped leaking all together.

My dad had a mitsubishi Mightymax (think dodge ram 50)
and he used m1 in it and it pretty much POURED out of the engine.
he went with Valvoline Maxlife and the leak was reduced to about 1qt/1000mi after 10k miles it was even less about 1qt/2500mi
 
just a note I'm not a M1 basher.. I used it in my 2002 ranger for over 70000miles.

just in some uses its not ideal
smile.gif


Rand
 
Quote:

at least for me it depends on your leak
I purchased a 91 cadillac deville off a family member who swore it had been changed with m1 syn.. I put m1 syn in it and it started leaking badly.. Im going to say at least an ounce per day more if it was hot out. on the front seal/head gasket area.

I lived with it for 2 monthes hoping it would stop.. it didnt so I used the castrol HM oil I won on BITOG and over 2000 miles it stopped it back to maybe a drop or 2
(it was hard to tell engine was pretty oily for sometime)
and it eventually stopped leaking all together.

My dad had a mitsubishi Mightymax (think dodge ram 50)
and he used m1 in it and it pretty much POURED out of the engine.
he went with Valvoline Maxlife and the leak was reduced to about 1qt/1000mi after 10k miles it was even less about 1qt/2500mi

Click to expand...


Sounds really positive then...thanks!! I'll give it a try..probably with MaxLife
 
Rand is probally right, on my old car which burned oil, mobil 1 gave it bad blue smoke on startup, didnt happen with any other oil.

I tried castrol HM, it made my engine run smooth, but I didnt replace it with another HM oil, just used regular oil, so I couldnt tell you if it works or not.
 
M1 is known to clean engine to squeaky condition. This is bad for poorly built engine as it will open up leak places that were previously covered up by sludge and other junk. I used it in all my vehicles even when I bought some of them with close to 200k miles and so far no leak. It is because they are a well built engines that were well cared for.

Important note: Oil people don't take care of their cars the way most people think. A lot of old people are dirt cheap and don't change the oil frequently and let the car sit a lot to keep the mile low. Some of them drive fast too.
 
Syn oil didnt clean the seals in my case it went past em like they werent there ;p

I knew i shouldnt use M1 in the caddy but the previous owner SAID m1 SYN was what he used... so i figured ____ I do it too.
 
It could take awhile to work. I have a car that used to smoke a little at startup after sitting for a few weeks. Been using MaxLife now for a few years and it no longer smokes.
 
Seal swelling agents will not fix the seal but they might buy you some time. The seal is leaking becuase it is one of the following: hard,dirty,dry rotted,cracked,worn or shrunk!!! Now the additional seal swelling agents in a bottle of max life are no better for the seal then a bottle of stop leak. What willhappen is if the seal is made from a material that is suceptable to seal swelling compounds it will swell. The problem is that the swelling is not a controlled process and if it swells too much it will accelearte how fast an already worn seal wear's out. It will not repair a cracked,dry rotted or dirty seal. I would buy a $5 bottle of some type of engine stop leak. If it works it will not matter what brand of oil you have in their. It will also tell you wether ornot pursueing oils's with sever so slightly higher amounts ofd seal swellers might be worth while. You can add the engine oil stop leak right to the exsisting oil. CD2,TransX,Bardell,Gunk etc..... all make and market some type of engine stop leak. Stay away from the stop leak no smoke combination products.
 
I used MaxLife 10W30 in my sister's firebird (LT1 V8) which had a small oil weep (about 2-3 drops a day) and it completely stopped it within a few weeks of using it. I'm sold
smile.gif
 
My daughter's 2000 Dodge Neon has a bad rear main seal leak. I started using Valvoline Maxlife in it as soon as I noticed it. The leak has not stopped completely but, the Maxlife has slowed it considerably.
 
My 1988 Mazda 323 has about 213k miles on it. Ran Amsoil thru the mid-1990's doing about 25k miles/year (long commute) and OCI once per year. Had been smoking at start-up for a year or two. Then switched to Mobil 1 15w50. Still smoked at start-up and developed a leak - drops on driveway. Went to regular dino and leak eventually stopped (never returned in about 9 years now). When Valvo HM came out, started using it (10w40) and start-up smoke almost disappeared. Have also used Castrol HM (10w40) - same results as Valvoline. Here's the thing - I recently went to Supertech HM 10w40 (cheap and my car is old) - start-up smoke is now NON-EXISTENT. I can still smell a bit of smoke (going in reverse at start-up or after long idle) but I can't see it. My Mazda loves Wally HM. I drive it like a rally car, so I'm going to start topping it off with Castrol 20w50 HM to reduce blow-by. I know your not supposed to mix, but my car is past caring I think (still plan to take it to 300k though).
 
No one is saying that these products cannot help in the short term. The problem though is not addressed.It is at best a band-aid for a problem that can not heal itself! Just bear in mind that at some point even if the additional seal swelling agents work it will still fail! Their is no mechanic in a bottle!
 
But the short term can become pretty long. I had very noticeable smoke on start-up and after long idle. I can't remember how many years I've been on HMs, but it was not long after MaxLife hit the shelves. Valvoline essentially fixed it, then Castrol HM (essentially fixed it), now Wally HM has truly fixed it. However, admittedly I now put way fewer miles on my Mazda these days (I work at home and use the Sienna for most family stuff) - if I was pushing it hard perhaps the seals would have gone south by now. (?)
 
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