Synthetics and Seal Leaks

[XS650]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ray H:
I shoulda put a smiley, (

), in my post. It was intended as light sarcasm.

---

Sarcasm is just an ugly way of telling the truth, in your case a lightly ugly way

 

[goldfinger]

I have a Grand Am which I switched to Mobil 1 @ 82K. It had no leaks and used no oil before on dino and has no leaks and uses no oil now on Mobil 1.

I agree completely on the statement that if you leak with dino, you're likely to leak worse with synthetics.

 

[XS650]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ray H:
Esters promote elastomeric material seal swelling. Frank says AutoRx has esters. PAO-based synthetic oils also contain esters. High mileage petroleum oils contain esters. Frank says AutoRx solves leakage problems. High mileage petroleum oils solve leakage problems. Frank says PAO-based synthetic oils cause oil leakage? Am I missing something here?

---

If you are missing something, then so am I. One area of concern is that modern oils already seem to already have the right amount of esters for good seal life. If that's the case, then more esters aren't necessarily a good thing for the long term health of your seals.

The old saying, "If more is better, to much is just right" was actually a joke

Some bits of evidence that the oil companies have it about right are that so far almost everyone posting here with experiance with sythetic oils isn't having leakage problems.

 

[Bob Woods]

What I get from reading many sites is, PAO causes seals to shrink, ester causes seals to swell, when the two are mixed in the right percentage the seals don't leak.

 

[Jimbo]

While my leakage experience is with gear oil, not motor oil, it will post it here anyway. Fact: 8-7/8 inch GM rear drive axle, 1994 vintage, not filled with synthetic lube at the factory, externally clean, dry and leak free at 40,000 miles. I changed the lube to Valvoline synthetic and the pinion seal started to seep right away, resulting in a oily, dirty and smelly axle housing. If synthetics dont cause leaks, what happened?

 

[SteveD2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jimbo:
If synthetics dont cause leaks, what happened?

---

It leaked out of a hole that was already there. It was either filled with dirt and the synthetic cleaned it and opened up the hole, or it could be that the synthetic just has an easier time of flowing through very small holes. However it happened, the synthetic didn't actually do anthing to the seal itself...

 

[sprintman]

We agree with Frank long time syn use causes seal degradation. Notice I didn't say leaks. As mentioned previously Ron who owns a forklift service business here in Melbourne has seen this for many years but nobody was willing to listen. I use RX maint dose now so don't expect any probs in the future.