oil leaks

[Ed Fenwick]

Someone sent an Amsiol catalog to me and I am thinking of getting some. The local mechanic says that he has heard of Synthetic oils causing older engins to leak. Mine has 116K miles. This is the only vehicle that I have owned in 40 years that doesn't leak, I am a bit weary of this good stuff. What do you guys think of syn. oil in high mileage engins?

Tks Ed

 

[Joshua Mercer]

From what I understand (and I am NOT a mechanic), if you have a leak, any oil will leak these days. Most synthetics & oils clean, and lube (hence why your oil gets dirty). Some say you need a motor flush before adding synthetics, but i don't buy it. There reason was because it wasn't good to mix motor oil, with synthetic, then they released semi-synthetics to the market, and that mumbo jumbo stopped. SO I guess it depends on who you ask. When cheap or older standard or old motor oil gets hot, it cakes, if it cakes over a leak, it plugs it. Solvents remove caking, so hence the leaks. I switched from regular oil, straight to Amsoil at 70k miles with NO problems. Every once in a while I will dump some seafoam in there to help the amsoil about 50-100 miles prior to oil change.



Its not like the AMSOil is going to eat away at your headgasket or something. Just my .02

 

[Dean Couderc 2]

I have the same question and research on the matter has brought me back to square 1. From what I've read, syn oil does not cause leaks, but I do believe it will clean your engine and gaskets and that can possible point out leaks because the old dino was preventing the seals from leaking. I know that sounded like a contradiction. This is what my research has found: Always us a good quality oil. Syn oil does not breakdown as fast as dino. Use a good quality oil filter. Oil intervals depend on your driving conditions (for any type of oil). I didn't know this but syn oil is made from real oil vs. be synthetically made in a lab.

 

[Richard McAlister]

I think the belief that synthetic oil cause leaks originated from two truths.



1. When oil containing high levels of detergent additive were first introduced, many people used it in engines that had been running non-detergent oils. This often did remove deposits that were in small crevices and around gaskets and many engines started to leak and burn more oil.



2. When synthetic oils were first introduced (specifically Mobil 1), they were incompatible with some seal material, causing the engines to leak a small, but significant amount of oil. This problem has long since been taken care of and is no longer a concern.



Personally I use a good quality dino oil - usually Quaker State with Motorcraft oil filters. I change every 3,000 or six months (usually the six months comes first).



All of the above is my humble opinion only. :driving:

 

[Art Garcia]

ive recently changed over to synthetic oil. i chose Penzoil Full Synthetic 5-30

and the other day my engine was running and i propped my hood open and i saw fumes

from around my engine. and notice some kind of oil dripping on my headers. and i dont know

if ive been paranoid but sometimes i get the smell of burnt oil. and like other have said. i do hear clatter noise from the lifters for about less than 5 minutes.



my moms honda accord with 190k was recently changed over to Penzoil full synthetic 5-30 too and her car is leaking the oil, she had to do an oil change at 4k because it was very low and her maintenance required light came on and is still on.



should we just change back to regular oil???

 

[Bill Koonce]

FWIW my '89 Mustang LX 5.0 got Mobil 1 synthetic (with graphite, the stuff was black as tar) for the first year. It consumed a quart of oil per month. 10W40, per the owner's manual.



This particular 5.0 HO motor had the then-new factory hypereutectic pistons, so it shouldn't have had such a bad oil consumption problem. But it did.



After a while I switched to a different brand synthetic. At the time I was told that you couldn't go back from synthetic. I don't know if it was the different oil or the engine "settling in" as one 5.0 owner suggested, but consumption tailed off to nothing by 24,000 miles.



I don't see any mention of graphite on new Mobil 1 stock, and heard various rumors about why they had to quit using graphite. But it appears that the graphite in motor oil fad came and went quickly.



Don't know if any of that helps, but that's my story. BTW, none of my 4.6 mod motors consume any oil, and never have.

 

[Ed Fenwick]

Well, that about covers it! Some leak and others don't. Tha mechanic that I talked to is an old school guy. As am I. He says that wonce the synthetic oil cleans out the crud and a leak starts, if you go back to dino oil, it will still leak there. That said Arturo, it wouldn't hurt to go back to a good dino oil. With 116K on mt S/T I may just stay with dino. Thanks guys.

God bless Ed

 

[Ed Fenwick]

Well, that about covers it! Some leak and others don't. Tha mechanic that I talked to is an old school guy. As am I. He says that wonce the synthetic oil cleans out the crud and a leak starts, if you go back to dino oil, it will still leak there. That said Arturo, it wouldn't hurt to go back to a good dino oil. With 116K on mt S/T I may just stay with dino. Thanks guys.

God bless Ed

 

[Johnny O]

ANY Sport Trac isn't old enough to have seal compatibility issues with synthetic oil. That said, with 116k on it you won't see much benefit anyway. I would switch to a high-mileage oil like Max Life and not worry about it.

 

[Brian Lee]

I have been running synthetic in mine for about 50k and had no problems with it. I have almost 160k on it now.

 

[Ed Fenwick]

JohnnyO, what is high mileage oil? I have seen it but what does"specially formulated for high mileage engines" mean exactly?

Tks Ed

 

[EddieS'04]

ED, from my knowledge. It has special additives to loosen carbon on the rings, for better seat. Also helps soften seals for leak protection. I dont know if it really works though.