I have been the owner of many Land Rover diesels. The diesel engine I favor is the 4-cylinder 2.5 Tdi. One major snag with this engine is its propensity to leak oil from the front and rear crankshaft seals. Replacement seals last me 10,000km and then they start to leak again. When the old seals are removed (they come built into their own bolt-on housing) they are harder than they should be and harder than when they were installed. One mechanic said they overheated, but that's impossible, my oil temps never exceed 70 C. Very vexing problem since the seals show no sign of actual wear.
A short while ago a zealous salesman persuaded me to change to motor oil sold under the name 'Delo Gold 15W 40' in this country. It comes from the local iteration of Chevron. Previously I have habitually used Castrol GTX Diesel in my engines, to the exclusion of everything else. Why? Dunno - its just a habit I acquired many years ago. Maybe from Castrol's race sponsorship, or some other advertisinng.
Anyway, within 1000km of changing to Delo Gold the crankshaft oil leaks dried up. I haven't removed the seals because that is major surgery on these engines, but I assume that something in the Delo has softened the seals. And something in the Castrol GTX had hardened them in the first place. Is such a thing possible? Has anyone ever seem this before?
Fyko. Cape Town, South Africa.
A short while ago a zealous salesman persuaded me to change to motor oil sold under the name 'Delo Gold 15W 40' in this country. It comes from the local iteration of Chevron. Previously I have habitually used Castrol GTX Diesel in my engines, to the exclusion of everything else. Why? Dunno - its just a habit I acquired many years ago. Maybe from Castrol's race sponsorship, or some other advertisinng.
Anyway, within 1000km of changing to Delo Gold the crankshaft oil leaks dried up. I haven't removed the seals because that is major surgery on these engines, but I assume that something in the Delo has softened the seals. And something in the Castrol GTX had hardened them in the first place. Is such a thing possible? Has anyone ever seem this before?
Fyko. Cape Town, South Africa.