Small seal leak. Switch to Maxlife?

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Hey guys I am just looking for some suggestions here. I bought a 1996 Escort LX for me and the lady. This car is mainly to take around town and keep some miles off of my Camaro.

The car drives fine. I recently changed the oil to Pennzoil YB 5w30 and after 1000 miles the oil is still on the completely full mark and looks as clean as it did coming out of the bottle.

Now the car does seem to have a small seal leak. You can see some seepage under the car but it must be a very slow leak, never enough to drip or make the oil level low. I never really used a high mileage oil on my cars but I am thinking about giving Maxlife a run next oil change on this car. What do you think? I really like YB but maybe the Maxlife will help out with that small leak?
 
My old Dakota was dripping, but after a couple of Maxlife oil changes it hardly leaks at all. I would say try Maxlife.

John
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Maxlife can't hurt - its a great oil!


True,

I've seen some vehicles that had borderline maintenance where maxlife helped and some it didn't. A lot depends on the seal construction and how caked up or whatever the problem is.

Bottom line it can't hurt to try for a couple OCIs.
 
I agree with the others. This is a relatively easy call. No harm in trying an HM oil and seeing if the seals can be conditioned back into leak-free condition. Of course, if you have sustained gross damage or deterioration, no oil is going to magically fix that. But again, no harm in trying the easy way out first. Just keep an eye on it to make sure the leak does not accelerate to catastrophic levels. Best of luck with it.
 
I would clean off the underside of the car, wait a little bit, and see if you can actually find where the oil is leaking from. Without cleaning it off, it may be hard to tell exactly where it is coming from because the wind pushes around the oil as you drive.

For all yu know, it could just be coming from the oil drain plug. In which case you could just buy a new plug and gasket and fix the problem for $2.

Another leak problem on older cars is that they sometimes get pin sized rust holes right in the oil pan that just weep a bit of oil. If this was the case, this could be fixed with a little JB weld.

The point I'm getting at is that a High Mileage oil can be an easy fix. However, once you find the location of the leak, you may find the fix to pretty easy too.
 
Regarding your leak... also check your oil pan bolts. I bought our Highlander used with 75k on it, and it was leaking a tad bit. Lo and behold some of the pan bolts were loose. I snugged those up and no more leak.
 
Originally Posted By: MysticGold04
Regarding your leak... also check your oil pan bolts. I bought our Highlander used with 75k on it, and it was leaking a tad bit. Lo and behold some of the pan bolts were loose. I snugged those up and no more leak.


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For whatever reason, this seems to be a common problem I have found on many vehicles. Whenever someone tells me their vehicles are seeping or leaking oil, I ask them to check oil pan bolts and I have checked many myself for folk that could not.

I frogot to say that the MaxLife is a very good oil in either blend or full synthetic. M1 10W-30 is a vere good oil.
 
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I'd try the MaxLife. It's a good oil, and shouldn't hurt even if it doesn't sure the leak. It could take a few thousand though before it stops, if it's going to.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I'll give it a shot next change. And I will check the bolts and see if any are loose.
 
I am about 7000 miles into a Max life OCI and I noticed that I was a half quart low today. I had about a half-quart left from my 5 qt Maxlife bottle and I added it and checked the dipstick and it was back up to the top has mark. Should I be worried about excess usage or try Maxlife again? Did I go too long on this OCI or does Maxlife syn blend hold up to 7000 mile OCIs? I got a 2006 V6 Accord. It's a higg heat application and the summer has been brutal with heat index up to 110 for record high recently!! I would like to try PP 0w-20 if I could find it.
 
Originally Posted By: 06VtecV6
I am about 7000 miles into a Max life OCI and I noticed that I was a half quart low today. I had about a half-quart left from my 5 qt Maxlife bottle and I added it and checked the dipstick and it was back up to the top has mark. Should I be worried about excess usage or try Maxlife again? Did I go too long on this OCI or does Maxlife syn blend hold up to 7000 mile OCIs? I got a 2006 V6 Accord. It's a higg heat application and the summer has been brutal with heat index up to 110 for record high recently!! I would like to try PP 0w-20 if I could find it.

Personaly I think 7k on Vavoline ML blend is a little to high IMO. I use the VMLB too, and wouldnt push it past 5K. Considering the application is a car with high miles,and VMLB is cheap in the 5qt jug. Im interested in what some more oil educated members have to say on the topic too...
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Yesterday i switched the wifes Jetta to GXT HM 5W30. The thickness is pretty darn close to GC...i change oil early anyway. Thats why i went back to conventional.
 
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