Maxlife seal conditioners

[Bill888]

I've got my "free" (w/rebate) 5qts of Maxlife. Re: the seal conditioners - has anyone actually performed or heard of a test to see if this stuff really swells rubber? If used in a "newer" car, i.e. 30k miles, what would be the harm in swelling &/or softening seals? I've got a feeling that most of this is just hype to get more product shelf space.
TIA
Bill

 

[The_Jeff]

From what I've read, the esters in Maxlife are similar to those in auto-rx which gets almost universal praise as being "gentle".

 

[JAG]

You could do the forum a favor and go buy two valve seals or some other engine seals and put one in Maxlife and the other in another non-high mileage oil. Let them sit for a day or so and then compare the dimensions and hardness of the seals. That would be cool.

 

[Bill888]

Jag:
I'll give it a try - of course it'll be completely unscientific, but we'll see if something will be observable. I'll use "matching" used VW oil cooler seals, some new rubber o-rings and whatever else I have 2 of in my bins. Other oil will be GTX 20/50.
Bill.

 

[surfstar]

Might want to give them some heating cycles to simulate an engine environment and use a micrometer to measure any changes.

 

[55Test]

It would be interesting to see what Maxlife does to new engine seals, as it says on the bottle it's safe for new engines. How about some other high mileage oil? I'm curious to see what GTX HM can do. I've got a jug plus 2 extra quarts of it under my doorstep that I haven't used. I don't know if I should go with the GTX HM or Maxlife for my beater 88 Corolla. I like Maxlife because it has moly, but GTX HM looks interesting too as it's a bit 'thicker' at 100 celsuis than Maxlife.

 

[55Test]

Curse the lack of an edit button! I should also point out I have 2 spare quarts of Maxlife too. What to do, what to do...

 

[Mach5]

Do the seal conditioners affect only rubber, or RTV seals as well? Much of a modern engine is sealed with RTV, so it would seem for the much-touted seal conditioners to do much good on older engines it would have to help out silicones too.

 

[Bill888]

Here's my "methodology" (such as it is
One jar each containing same amount of oil, enough to completely submerge all test pieces. The pieces are (matching pairs) 1. used oil cooler seals (Porsche 356/VW type) 2. Pair of new oil cooler seals. 3. Rubber O-rings. 4. Neoprene washers (new.) 5. I recently replaced the rubber seal on my 67 Porsche rear quarter window. The rubber I took off is 40 years old and has virtually no flexibility (it literally snaps apart and is about as hard and dry as rubber can get.) I'll cut this piece into 3 equal lengths - the 3rd piece will go into a jar of Mobil 1 Extended Performance 15/50 just for the ________ of it.
After a week I'll check the pieces - if I can't tell any difference, I'll heat the jars to around 250f & see what that does. Not scientific, but might be interesting. If there is no difference, however, I hope no one will assume that Maxlife doesen't condition seals - it'll only show that this "backyard" test was just too crude to extract any meaningful results. Let's just have a little fun with it.
Bill.

 

[pastmaster]

OH BOY!!! A Real Life Test! I'm Very interested in the results. I wish you good luck and I appreciate your time in doing this test.

 

[grampi48]

All I know is I used it in my Tercel in an attempt to restore leaking valve guide seals and it did nothing. To be totally fair, neither did ARX.

 

[Hermann]

Quote:

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All I know is I used it in my Tercel in an attempt to restore leaking valve guide seals and it did nothing. To be totally fair, neither did ARX.

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Valvoline Maxlife Full Synthetic has stopped the pushrod tube seal leak on my BMW air cooled twin motorcycle engine. And it did it on the first ride. Don't know much about miracles, but there are no longer drips on the cardboard my bike sits on.

Normally I don't turn up the #$%^ &%$# meter this much. I am as pleasantly surprised and impressed with the results. It is blended in with my conventional 20w50 oil at a 20% ratio of syn.

 

[ccs v2.0]

Hermann, what dino is that and what grade of Maxlife full syn? Got to put that in the memory banks in case I need it.

 

[Hermann]

Quote:

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Hermann, what dino is that and what grade of Maxlife full syn? Got to put that in the memory banks in case I need it.

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It was about 2/3 qt of BMW 20W-50 SG, 3/4 qt Pennzoil 20W-50 SL, 1/2 qt Maxlife Full Synthetic 5w30 SL/SM. Filter was not changed and the Pennzoil was in prior OCI. I was cleaning out my garage and decided to do a quickie oil change for the fall riding season, and use up all my partial quarts laying about.

 

[Bill888]

Up and running. Since I'll be away from home, I'll let everything soak for about 3 weeks. I've posted a pic of the setup (remember, this isn't Lawrence Labs
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n5/wfbowen/oil test/oil2.jpg
p.s. If Valv/Castrol/M1 PR people monitor this thread, I'll trash the whole study right now for a case of free oil (any weight!) Just like the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA do! (LOL)
Bill.

 

[JAG]

That's awesome Bill. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to the results.

 

[DSteven]

In my experience, MaxLife Synthetic also stopped some oil leaks, where other High Mileage oils did not. After 3-4 OCI, Castrol High Mileage also stoppped a leak. I haven't had regular MaxLife stop even a small seapage.?. When MaxLife was first introduced (late 2000 or early 2001), we used it in a 93 Cavalier 2.2 with 220000, where seemed to stop exhaust smoke on startup due to worn valve guide seals, and it also reduced oil consumption from 1qt/500 miles to 1qt/2000 miles.

**Does regular MaxLife have better cold properties then MaxLife Synthetic?**

 

[Bicster]

I changed the oil in my 94 Accord yesterday (110k), replacing GC Green with MaxLife Full Synthetic 5W30. I've run the Accord through 2 OCI's with the GC green and the seals started leaking. I hope this stops it. It's not an extreme leak but any leak is annoying!

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Common problem when going from dino to a full synthetic with a high mileage, not-so-clean engine. May need to do an Auto-Rx to diminish that leak. I'm not sure only one OCI of Max Life will make much of a difference. Perhaps as many as three OCIs'... if you want to wait that long????

 

[Bicster]

I am not in a real hurry. The leak is not so bad that I am adding oil between OCI's. I am skeptical that MaxLife will fix the problem, but I am even more skeptical of oil additives.