PROGRESSION OF OIL WHEN USING SYNTHETIC

[SFCP]

Wasn't sure how to title this. I posted something similar to this a week ago, but not sure if it made sense or not.
I was wondering what the typical progressing of using synthetic is once you have exceeded the 100K mile mark and perhaps the eingine beings to seep oil out the gaskets. Those who have never had a leaky engine while using synthetic need not reply to this. This isn't about yout. However, his is about the many people I have spoken too who have used synthetic in their engines since new and developed oil leaks later on down the roard perhaps due to engine designe or gausket design or simply, age of the gaskets. If it is too costly of a repair and not worth fixing because it's not causing any problems, have you continued on using synthetic and topping off as needed, or do you revert back to the Valvoline Maxlife or Castrol HM oils at that point? It sort of seems like a step backward to have to go from using synthetic back to a conventionl HM blend. But wanted to know from others what they have done. I'm going to be running M1 in my van for as long as I can possible do it, but wanted to know what I'm suppose to when its time to go back to conventional if I ever had to.

 

[SFCP]

sorry for the typos. uuuughhhh

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I'm right at 100K with no leaks yet. Been using all Group III in the S-10 4.3 thus far.

My $99 Sears Craftsman 4 HP push lawnmower purchased 12 years ago has only seen Mobil-1 15W-50 and most recently Shell Rotella Synthetic 5W-40. No leaks in that one either.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

The daughter's car was getting synthetic (M1) and leaked. It has 113k miles. I switched it to Maxlife and the leaks have subsided enough to where the driveway stays clean now.

We got it used at about 97k miles and it was already weeping some, but the M1 made it worse.

 

[spOILEDrotten]

I bought a leaky used 96 Subaru Legacy. The EJ engines tend to leak later on in life. I did TWO AutoRX rinses. The oil came out black as tar after the first rinse, and brownish after the second. This stopped much of the leaking. I then began the use of Mobil 1 High Mileage and the leaking has virtually stopped. I'm about to be through my second 10K interval with the M1 HM.

I now park it in my driveway instead of the street.

 

[SFCP]

Quote:

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I'm right at 100K with no leaks yet. Been using all Group III in the S-10 4.3 thus far.

My $99 Sears Craftsman 4 HP push lawnmower purchased 12 years ago has only seen Mobil-1 15W-50 and most recently Shell Rotella Synthetic 5W-40. No leaks in that one either.

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And your point is? Did you read the question I posed? LOL
This isn't about you..

 

[SFCP]

Anyone else? I'm really interested to know some of you have done after using synthetic for hundreds of thousands of miles and the the leaks develope? A Mobil Rep told me that their HM synthetic is not designed to be used on engines were leaks have occurred because it is fully synthetic and will leak out. This leaves the only option for someone using a synthetic the entire vehicle's life to either (A) fix the gasket, or (B), donwgrade to a HM conventional oil. I'm still sort of suprised that while a man can be put on the moon, nobody has come out with a fully synthetic oil that willl help swell up leaky engine seals. I'm not even so sure taht Valvoline's full syn Maxlife is a good idae, because it also along the same lines as Mobil's HM synthetic.

 

[spOILEDrotten]

The thing is, if you are using synthetic since new, the likelihood of having a leak to begin with is signifiacntly less likely. I understand your question and the logic behind it, but it is a rarity unless it is a highly leak prone vehicle.

My answer would be to do an AutoRX cycle or two to swell the seals. That's what I did and it did a great job. Now I continue to use synthetic.

The thing is, unless it is a huge leak that drains your sump real quickly, a leak doesn't cause engine wear. You could have a leaky engine last 500,000 miles or more. Most engines running synthetic are practically spotless on the inside.

Amsoil and Mobil have countless examples of super high mileage vehicles that look practically new after a tear down. That being said and the fact that I drive my cars till they die, that's what I want. I drive 70,000 miles a year, and that usually gives me 2 or possibly 3 years before non-engine related problems start to get too frequent.

 

[SFCP]

Thanks for the reply spOILEDrotten...
Wow..you drive a lot of miles. The point you made about vehicles using syn since new are less prone to leaks, leads me to wonder if I will be less likely to develope a leak since I just started on my vehicle which has 74k on it, and currently has no leaks.. (?)

 

[spOILEDrotten]

Synthetics clean better, and sometimes they will clean sludge that acts as a false seal (plugs the hole) if things weren't done well the first time. Now you have a leak.

Sludge can come from a million different things. Hot spots, PCV system failures, inadequate sump capacities, excessive blow-by, too long of a OCI, poor oil selection, ect...

A little sludge or varnish isn't critical.

My advise is just not to worry about something you can't control until it happens. If you do get a leak, you can fix it or use an additive that will plug it. It's not the end of the engine.

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:

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Wasn't sure how to title this.

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It doesn't matter, your titles are always in caps anyway. . .

Quote:

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Those who have never had a leaky engine while using synthetic need not reply to this.

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Uh oh. . .

 

[Cutehumor]

SFCP

what happened to your "[censored] tell me what oil to use thread?"

 

[Pablo]

So far, not one "about you" response..... as the others have said, it's just not an inevitable chain (progression) of events..... the whole premise is not on solid ground.

 

[salesrep]

SpOILEDrotten has responded very well.
Do a purge. Clean out the crud. Hope the products you use swell the seals back up. May take a cycle or two.
The leaks may have shown up regardless of oil.


Many of the people you spoke to that developed leaks may have had that problem years ago whn chemistries and materials were different.

 

[georgedal]

My opinion is that if synthetic leaks out at the rate of one quart per 1,000 miles you could extend your oil change milage a little as the new oil being added replenishes the additives.
Of course the stains on the driveway and gsarage floor is a different matter.

 

[drivewaytech]

My apologies if this is a new thread question. But when stating that synthetic oils can cause seal leaks, does this just pertain to Grp 4 synthetics? Grp 3's are just better refined dino oils, correct. Is it the additives in question, the VII's, or just molecule size in general in question between synthetic and conventional, regardless of Grp. 3 or 4?

 

[spOILERrotten]

It's not necessarily about which group. People get a little too caught up on that. It has more to do with the increased cleaning additives that many synthetics have versus conventional, the fact that conventional is more prone to leave a deposit to begin with, and the fact that synthetic oils are thinner at non operational temperatures.

That means the synthetic will possibly clean any false seals, not replace the seal with more sludge later, and then, when the car cools down and the oil returns to ambient outside temps, is more likely to seep through the holes due to being thinner by nature at lower temps.

A 10w30 conventional and synthetic are similar at 40 and 100 degrees Celsius. But the conventional gets thicker and thicker as things get cooler. The synthetic is more resilient. This is why many people go with thicker oils to slow or stop leaks. It's too thick to get through. This is also why many people have leaks stop when they go back to conventional from synthetic.

They trade extra protection for a temporary fix.