I am looking for what oil to use to maybe help cut down on an oil leak. The car has the gm 3.8 v6 in it and I guess it is notorious for rear main seal leaks. It was fixed once around 25,000 miles and it may be leaking again as there are a couple drops on the ground, nothing like it was leaking before though. The car has ~65,000 miles on it. Not really wanting to pay for the rear main seal to be replaced, the first time was under warranty. So would using something like castrol high mileage help or anyone have any suggestions on what other type of oil my help the leak a little bit? Right now I am using 10w-30 castrol gtx.
What to use?
- Thread starter ramair8
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Yeah $2qt is high
I also have the 3800-II in my camaro, are you a firebirdv6 or clubgp poster? In any case some people have had rear main seal leaks with these engines... What oil do you currently run in it that leaks? My 3.8 seems to adore the maxlife, no valve tap, no oil consumption, no leaks, and its as quiet as an ant walking on cotton... You might want to try it just for a few changes to see if it goes away, or goto a 10W-40... if its leaking you know its a seal thats gone though, and it does need replacing. If GM replaced the seal at 25,000 and it came back again, it should still be under warranty. My GM dealer, when any part is replaced by them (seal, alternator, differential, anything), it's lifetime guaranteed.
I also have the 3800-II in my camaro, are you a firebirdv6 or clubgp poster? In any case some people have had rear main seal leaks with these engines... What oil do you currently run in it that leaks? My 3.8 seems to adore the maxlife, no valve tap, no oil consumption, no leaks, and its as quiet as an ant walking on cotton... You might want to try it just for a few changes to see if it goes away, or goto a 10W-40... if its leaking you know its a seal thats gone though, and it does need replacing. If GM replaced the seal at 25,000 and it came back again, it should still be under warranty. My GM dealer, when any part is replaced by them (seal, alternator, differential, anything), it's lifetime guaranteed.
I think by using the Max Life oil that it swelled all the seals in my engine. When you operate the engine on swelled seals (front and rear seals), you get more seal wear. Then when the seals are not swelled (if you stop using the Max Life) you will have more leaks. Valvoline actually told me that Max Life contains "stop leak" that is when i quit using it.
I am currently using castrol gtx 10w-30. Is maxlife better than the castrol high mileage?
[ December 18, 2002, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: ramair8 ]
[ December 18, 2002, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: ramair8 ]
I will be that this was not cost effective. $$$ to fix a leak whereas the oil was an extra $5 every 3-5000 miles
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