Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil

[Jay]

My car is a 2002 Acura RSX with 195kmi and most of it's life was spent in a mild climate. I used conventional Havoline and Chevron mostly and oil analysis showed excellent results with these. I then moved to Idaho where the winters are very harsh and decided to use synthetic but didn't want to spend much money because my car had >150kmi. After more than a year of use, my engine developed oil leaks. I had great difficulty determining the source of the leaking because all the seals seemed to leak. I changed the vtech solenoid seal, and that helped, but the leaking continued from other seals.

Next oil change I used Valvoline Maxlife Durablend 5w-20, which is supposed to help old seals, and noticed no difference at first. However, the leaking slowed markedly after about a year of use. After about 18 months, I no longer drip oil on cardboard that I put underneath my car. Long story short: I'm convinced that the Supertech synthetic caused oil seal leaking after long term use (>1 year) and the Valvoline Maxlife greatly slowed or stopped the leaking after more than 1 year of use. Anybody have a similar experience?

 

[bullwinkle]

Maxlife has helped (somewhat) with a few RMS leaks on a couple different older engines for me, and it does seem that a high mileage engine, that has been run on conventional its whole life, can develop small leaks from many seals when run on (non-high mileage) synthetic for the first time. That's why Maxlife Synthetic (and M1 HM) were developed, to counteract that cleaning/old seal leakage action.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I'm not sure I think SuperTech syn caused the leak, but MaxLife may well have mitigated it...

 

[53' Stude]

Originally Posted By: Jay
My car is a 2002 Acura RSX with 195kmi and most of it's life was spent in a mild climate. I used conventional Havoline and Chevron mostly and oil analysis showed excellent results with these. I then moved to Idaho where the winters are very harsh and decided to use synthetic but didn't want to spend much money because my car had >150kmi. After more than a year of use, my engine developed oil leaks. I had great difficulty determining the source of the leaking because all the seals seemed to leak. I changed the vtech solenoid seal, and that helped, but the leaking continued from other seals.

Next oil change I used Valvoline Maxlife Durablend 5w-20, which is supposed to help old seals, and noticed no difference at first. However, the leaking slowed markedly after about a year of use. After about 18 months, I no longer drip oil on cardboard that I put underneath my car. Long story short: I'm convinced that the Supertech synthetic caused oil seal leaking after long term use (>1 year) and the Valvoline Maxlife greatly slowed or stopped the leaking after more than 1 year of use. Anybody have a similar experience?


As a long time user or ST Synthetic in a GM, and older Jeep I highly doubt it caused the leak. I personally have never used Maxlife either. Opinions vary....

 

[Nick1994]

You have an old car, and it leaked oil as old cars do. SuperTech had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It would have leaked if you had used anything else.

 

[53' Stude]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You have an old car, and it leaked oil as old cars do. SuperTech had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It would have leaked if you had used anything else.


Great point

 

[skyactiv]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You have an old car, and it leaked oil as old cars do. SuperTech had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It would have leaked if you had used anything else.


I agree with Nick1994

 

[umungus1122]

It was the fact you went to syn on a HM car that was run on conventional it's whole life. The brand of synthetic had nothing to do with it. I've seen these leaks develop on a number of older vehicles where conventional was previously used.

 

[WobblyElvis]

I had a old dodge minivan that ran conventional for years, switched to synthetic and it leaked from almost every place imaginable. Some people say that a synthetic will not cause leaks but when it happens to you it's a different story. Never could stop the leaks. Ruined my driveway. Scraped the vehicle. I won't switch another old vehicle to synthetic oil.

 

[PimTac]

Yep. Changing a car to synthetic after it has run conventional for a long long time will cause leaks sometimes. Good to hear the Valvoline is working for you. It does take time to stop the leaks so it's not instant.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Your experience in switching to a full synthetic in a 13-14 year old car is not unusual. In my opinion, your error was in not using a high mileage synthetic when you changed from conventional. And Supertech would have handled the job of seal swelling just like Maxlife did for you later.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

I think that any synthetic would have caused the leaks. Syns do 2 things very well. They clean, and they flow into very small spaces. Try the Synpower with Maxlife technology if you still want to run a full synthetic. M1 HM and PP HM are also good full synthetic oils that will condition seals and control leaks

 

[SZR48207]

The leaks were always there, but were hidden by conventional oil.

 

[zerosoma]

You had that problem coming long before you switched to house brand oil. It's for sure not the oil's fault, just a coincidence.

 

[69GTX]

My 2002 was run on conventional 5w-20 up to 2009 and 45K miles and no noticeable usage. That's when I switched to Formula Shell Synthetic 5w-20 synthetic and started seeing some usage of 1 qt or more per oil change. Went to 5w-20 VWB for one OCI and the leaks seemed to stop. Then switched back to 5w-30 PP/QSUD and no real usage since. No high mileage oils yet at 15 yrs/74K miles.

 

[Linctex]

Jay,

I suppose you didn't get the answer you were wanting to hear!

I agree with the others - the Super Tech 5w-20 seems like an easy scapegoat to blame, but it just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and seemed like the right direction to point the finger - The car would have leaked with any other full synthetic 5W-30. I'm sure switching to high mileage oil helped quite a bit, though.

 

[Crispysea]

I switched to ST synthetic in two different vehicles, and they didn't leak. One was at 60k, and one at 125k.They'd both been only on conventional before. One burns a little oil, but it did with dino oil, too.

 

[Ducked]

Hmm...so the OP says he had a bad experience with Supertech 5w-20 synthetic oil because it leaked like crazy, and y'all tell him that's not right, because it would/could have happened with any synthetic oil?

What is it about "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil" that you don't understand?

Let me explain: "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil" means you had a "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil"

It does not mean "I had a much worse experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil than I would have had with any other synthetic oil." The OP is leaving that speculative stuff to y'all.

OP: Thanks for your account of your negative experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil. I will avoid it if I ever see any.

Others : Thanks for your speculation on the probable negative effects of other synthetic oils. I'll avoid them as well.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
Hmm...so the OP says he had a bad experience with Supertech 5w-20 synthetic oil because it leaked like crazy, and y'all tell him that's not right, because it would/could have happened with any synthetic oil?

What is it about "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil" that you don't understand?

Let me explain: "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil" means you had a "Bad Experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil"

It does not mean "I had a much worse experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil than I would have had with any other synthetic oil." The OP is leaving that speculative stuff to y'all.

OP: Thanks for your account of your negative experience with Supertech 5w-20 Synthetic Oil. I will avoid it if I ever see any.

Others : Thanks for your speculation on the probable negative effects of other synthetic oils. I'll avoid them as well.



You're missing the point. An engine that has lived on conventional oil has deposits that help seals stay sealed. The OP issue was caused by the switch to full synthetic. The dexos approved Supertech syn cleaned up the deposits plugging the holes and the leaks began. The OP then switched to Maxlife which has reconditioned the seals in the engine and helped slow the leaks. Had OP switched to a HM full synthetic like Mobil 1 HM or PP HM or Valvoline Synpower with Maxlife he wouldn't have had as much of a leak issue.

An engine run for 100k mi on conventional oil, then switched to a quality synthetic will most likely develop leaks. It is the nature of things. Ergo the Supertech, which I'll remind you again, is dexos certified and API SN, is not a bad oil by any measure. It was the switch from conventional to synthetic that cleaned the deposits and opened leaks. Any modern synthetic would have done this. The OP just happened to use Supertech because it's a low priced dexos certified full synthetic oil.

It is ignorant to blame an oil brand for a problem that any quality synthetic oil would have created. I and the other posters are trying to educate and inform.

 

[chrisri]

Group 4 synthetics were not always friendly to the gaskets. But this being a 02 car it isn't really old regarding gasket material type. Use VHM, it has some good gaskets conditioner.