Here's a nice, condensed statement by Molakule on seal conditioners:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/s...part=3&vc=1
MolaKule on, "Seal Conditioning and Swelling."
Seals are made by molding synthetic rubbers called elastomers.
Elastomers are made by mixing a filler material with a plasiticizer, the plasticizer being a high molecular weight ester or di-ester fluid.
Under the conditions of heat and the stress of oxidation and additives, such as dispersants, seals can degrade. Sludge buildup at the seal's interface is the number one cause of seal degradation.
Seal Degradation is:
1. Plasticizer loss or change in plasticizer,
2. dimensional change through chemical attack or mechanical wear,
3. hardening due to loss of fluid's swelling agents,
4. attack by sludge.
Seal swell results in the "increase" in the lateral dimensions of the seal. Usually, the "radial" dimension of the seal is decreased. One cannot "overswell" the seal or all sealing capabilites will be lost through mechanical wear. Also please remember that, "what goes up, must come down."
Seal conditioning is the cleaning or removal of unwanted sludge and the return of some of the seals plasticizer that may have been lost. Seal conditioning should not only clean the seal, but return the seal's "pliability." The exact mechnism of returning "some" of the pliability to a seal is due to a mechanism called diffusion.
Nothing, and I repeat nothing, can return a worn or used seal to it it's original dimension nor to its original pliability.
