Any harm is using Maxlife blend 5w30 and Liqui Moly Oil life extender for one full OCI to help an oil pan/rear main seep on an LS1?
High Mileage Oil+ Liquimoly oil Saver?
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The only time you use an oil additive is when you're 100% sure that something is missing from the oil you want to use in your engine.
Here's an example for you: You want to use an Euro Oil like Castrol EDGE Euro 5W-40, however, you want more seal conditioner in it. However, you don't want to compromise the additive package of the oil, especially the anti wear and detergents & dispersants. You add Lubegard Bio-Tech at 3oz. per quart of oil used. It might still produce unpredictable results that you'll never be able to measure. Bio-Tech has a small amount of safe to use seal sweller in it, along with MoDDP (instead of ZDDP), and Calcium Carbamate, so it's pretty basic. It will however, displace the additive package by a certain percentage found in the oil you're using.
Now, is there something in Liqui Moly Oil life extender that your engine needs absolutely to have? Otherwise, there is absolutely no reason to experiment with it.
You'd be better of to just use a higher quality motor oil like Mobil 1 EP High Mileage 5W-30. It's blended from high quality base stocks, and has a very good additive package. It works very well.
Here's an example for you: You want to use an Euro Oil like Castrol EDGE Euro 5W-40, however, you want more seal conditioner in it. However, you don't want to compromise the additive package of the oil, especially the anti wear and detergents & dispersants. You add Lubegard Bio-Tech at 3oz. per quart of oil used. It might still produce unpredictable results that you'll never be able to measure. Bio-Tech has a small amount of safe to use seal sweller in it, along with MoDDP (instead of ZDDP), and Calcium Carbamate, so it's pretty basic. It will however, displace the additive package by a certain percentage found in the oil you're using.
Now, is there something in Liqui Moly Oil life extender that your engine needs absolutely to have? Otherwise, there is absolutely no reason to experiment with it.
You'd be better of to just use a higher quality motor oil like Mobil 1 EP High Mileage 5W-30. It's blended from high quality base stocks, and has a very good additive package. It works very well.
Have some small sweat marks I am trying to squash without pan removal (not easy task on 98-02 V8 Fbodys) - So I was going to do the HM oil + LMOS for this OCI and then see how things shake out.
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Do you know what type of oil pan gasket it is? If it's leaking from the rear main seal for example, Mobil 1 EP HM will do a much better job. It helped swell up shrinking seals on our 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.3GDI engine, specifically the CVVT seals. Once I started using Mobil 1 EP HM 5W-30, the startup rattle stop. Before oil was seeping past the CVVT seals back ton the pan, causing the CVVTs to rattle every morning. So, if you have a seepage issue, with internal or external seals, Liqui Moly won't help. I never tried Valvoline Maxlife, but Mobil 1 EP HM worked well for my situation, so I kept using it.
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I just read through this: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...eps-when-switching-to-hm.378666/#post-6772317
Old gaskets and seals, probably nothing that you pour from a bottle will fix them.
Old gaskets and seals, probably nothing that you pour from a bottle will fix them.
This
I've used LM Oil Saver once with non-High Mileage Oil. Not sure it really did anything. It seemed I had better luck with an actual High Mileage Oil, like Valvoline Maxlife. I have another bottle on the shelf that I got cheap and I will probably use half a bottle at a time, if I remember.
The LM product is similar to others in that it contains an ester to encourage some seal swell. They are not one-time use but part of a regimen (20k miles). You obtain similar results by buying a HM oil.
LM products do no harm. So there's no worry about using it if you're looking to use up some MaxLife oil you have around.
Your results will be solely depend on the current condition of your seals and their material.
Non-HM oils are designed to be compatible with seals but that's not what we're discussing.
Thanks!
I change the oil once a year before storage, and do around 6000KM a year (4000Mi) - Would it be OK to do my yearly Max life blend 5w30 and filter change, and toss a bottle of the LM oil saver in every change assuming it gives me good results this time around?
The LM product is every 20k miles with around 500 miles to notice results. As for your chosen grade I would go by your owners manual which I presume is 5w30.
Ya 5w30 - I was more wondering due to the long sit times over winter storage and not using the car, would there be any harm is using the LM product every oil change along with my HM oil?
LS is a one-piece pan gasket. Why not try checking the torque of all the pan bolts first before possibly missing the root cause of the possible weep? Those gaskets have metal inserts to prevent over-torquing, so there is literally zero risk to climb under there and snug them to the proper torque.
Done already.
I suspect RM seal seepage (super small oil stain on Left rear corner of pan after 1000-2000km
Oil pan gasket seepage
Ive changed :
-Valley Cover Gasket
-Valve Cover Gaskets
-Oil Pressure Switch
-Cam Sensor O-ring
-Oil Filter bypass housing seal
-PCV updated T and hose set
-Retorqued all oil pan bolts in sequence to spec
It used to look like a oil ship exploded, now I am down to 2 very involved jobs, that I wanna see if some HM oil + LM can maybe tamp down.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
I've had good luck with Oil Saver, but as said previously run one at a time. Do the HM, then run the LMOS with whatever non-HM you have on hand. It might take two OCI's before you really know if seal conditioning will help...
So I shouldn't run this WITH maxlife?
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Liqui Moly Oil Saver is up to 10% ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, the rest is group III base oil. Don't mix it with any High Mileage Oil, unless you want to create a new problem. It's basically a seal sweller.
There are other similar products that are nearly 100% glycol ethers, like Lubegard Seal Fixx (yes, that's what it's called). I wouldn't use that one either.
Just use a good High Mileage oil and call it a day. Alternativelly, use a full SAPS Euro Oil (0W-40/5W-40) and add Lubegard Bio-Tech at 3oz. per quart of oil. This is safe. Mixing glycol ethers with High Mileage oil could make things worse.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
I wouldn't. I would just try the MaxLife first....
BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
for LS engines (i drive one and maintain 50+ of them) the rear main seal MAY be leaking but the major thing is the rear cover gasket.
when and if you do your rear cover gasket take and hone the surface nice and flat (they tend to warp over time) then torque it down using ONLY an ACdelco gasket and rear main seal.
replace the rear main seal, seat the cover on the rear crank snout then torque the bolts down working from the middle outwards.
done like this, one can be guaranteed to be leak free.
side note, replace the factory plastic oil barbel with this while you’re there. it keeps unfiltered oil from bypassing the filter: Improved Racing GM Gen III & IV... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RF2YNYF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
when and if you do your rear cover gasket take and hone the surface nice and flat (they tend to warp over time) then torque it down using ONLY an ACdelco gasket and rear main seal.
replace the rear main seal, seat the cover on the rear crank snout then torque the bolts down working from the middle outwards.
done like this, one can be guaranteed to be leak free.
side note, replace the factory plastic oil barbel with this while you’re there. it keeps unfiltered oil from bypassing the filter: Improved Racing GM Gen III & IV... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RF2YNYF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I would not use it every oil change as it's going against the instructions from LM. I wasn't aware that MaxLife product is also a HM oil. Meh. You may want to contact LM to see if it's okay to use rather than rely on unqualified opinions here.
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