seal swelling agents and conditioners ???

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I noted Bob's study of various oils and their ability to swell seals. I have a few questions about that.

-Perhaps do swelling agents only really work when the seals are under force and pressure, or under elevated temperatures?

-Since I have heard from mobil1 peopel that there is some seal swelling/conditioning agent in their oil, I would like to know: typically, is a seal swelling agent or a seal conditioner good ovly for rubber gaskets, or do they work on paper ones as well?

Thanks,

JMH

 

[moribundman]

Okay, I'm dying to know where you have paper seals in your engine. The closest I have seen to paper, or rather cardboard gaskets are the throttle body and valley pan gasket on my car. Both are made from what seems to be thin cardboard soaked in polyperse wax (as I recently learned). And by the way, the valley pan gasket tends to leak oil. They should have used a different gasket material there.

[ January 23, 2004, 08:46 AM: Message edited by: moribundman ]

 

[Chris B.]

quote:

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Originally posted by JonS:
I swithed to Mobil 1 in my Jeep Grand Cher. at 110k miles. All the other oils i have tried (Pennz, Chevron, Castrol, Havoline) have leaked about a quater size drop when i parked. With the Mobil 1 5w-30 it hasn't leaked yet at 2 months. Maybe it did swell the gaskets and seals. All i know is that it works and i will continue to use it. BTW, i have no startup noise and my pressures are 60-80 psi and my mileage went up 3 mpg.

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That is just about the oppiset of the norm! That is very cool though! M1 is a good oil!

 

[JHZR2]

On my MB 300D turbo, whch has the OM 617.952 engine, probably the best engine ever made in terms of longevity (300K+ is the norm with these, and when used in taxi service, etc., 1 million miles in not uncommon), there are gaskets on the turbo oil drain and the injection pump to block oil lines that are of some sort of thin cardboard stuff, there are also similar gaskets in various spots in the fuel system, like the manual hand pump, etc. I think it is waxy, as youve noted. I say paper, because to me, cardboard and paper are all the same sort of product, as opposed to rubber metal or cork gaskets.

 

[JonS]

I swithed to Mobil 1 in my Jeep Grand Cher. at 110k miles. All the other oils i have tried (Pennz, Chevron, Castrol, Havoline) have leaked about a quater size drop when i parked. With the Mobil 1 5w-30 it hasn't leaked yet at 2 months. Maybe it did swell the gaskets and seals. All i know is that it works and i will continue to use it. BTW, i have no startup noise and my pressures are 60-80 psi and my mileage went up 3 mpg.

 

[Cressida]

quote:

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Originally posted by JHZR2:
On my MB 300D turbo, whch has the OM 617.952 engine, probably the best engine ever made in terms of longevity

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These engines are notorious for their oil leaks.

I don't think a seal swelling product is going to fix that problem. Better to start changing out all the gaskets you mention.

 

[moribundman]

JHZR2, those "paper gskets" have "polyperse/polymerase" wax on them. At a certain temperature and under pressure this wax will permeate the absorbent material it's applied to. There is no way, that this material will swell by using a conditioner.

 

[JHZR2]

Dont I know it... Great engine, but definitely leaky. I was hoping that changing from 50/50 delvac1/delvac 1300s to 100% mobil1 15w-50 might spare me the hassle of changing the IP gasket which is paper. Plus, I have done my turbo drain gasket twice, and it is this paper/wax stuff, and it still leaks. Both sides are clean, and I even had a professional do it once. So I had high hopes, because I dont want to tackle that one again.

But my hopes have been shot down... But I learned some about these swelling agents, so for that I am grateful. Now to fix that silly leak

JMH