oil question

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

my 95 has 125k and it leaks oil a fair amount. i'm using 10W40 right now. if i switched to 20W50 would that potentially slow the leak? according to my stock guage, the pressure is fine, i just leak from probably the rear main.

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

oh and one more thing. the numerically higher the number the more viscous the oil is right?

HISSIN50 · Feb 2, 2006

The best solution is to fix the leak. Temps up in Phx can still get chilly in the morning, and while you can probably get away with 20W-50, running 10-40 is better this time of year.

Look at it this way - if you need 20-50 now, what will you do in the summer when 20-50 flows like 10-40 now?

Good luck.

HISSIN50 · Feb 2, 2006

To keep the terms simple, the higher the numbers for the oil, the thicker it is.

5W-30 is thinner than 10-40, and 20-50 is thicker than 10-40.

Good luck.

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

HISSIN50 said:
Look at it this way - if you need 20-50 now, what will you do in the summer when 20-50 flows like 10-40 now?

Good luck.

but wouldn't that mean that 10W40 now would flow like an even lighter weight oil in the summer thus leaking more?

poneypower89 · Feb 2, 2006

90bronconate said:
but wouldn't that mean that 10W40 now would flow like an even lighter weight oil in the summer thus leaking more?

Yes, thats exactly what he means...

Anyways, only suggestion I can give is to buy really really cheap oil. No sense in getting the good stuff if you just gonna drip it back onto the driveway. Take the car to a tranny shop and have a new rear main put in as soon as u can. Tranny shops can do it much quicker and easier than we can on jack stands. Plus, its a minor fix for them so the price shouldnt be too steep.

My father is a tranny tech, dropped my car off at his shop... new rear main was done when I got back the next hour.

HISSIN50 · Feb 2, 2006

90bronconate said:
but wouldn't that mean that 10W40 now would flow like an even lighter weight oil in the summer thus leaking more?

Yes, 10W-40 right now probably flows about like 20W-50 does in 115*F ambient temps (I am down in Tucson).

So if 10-40 is too thin now, 20-50 will be too thin in the summer time (reasoning to fix the leak rather than try and get the oil thick enough to not seep past the seal).

I was figuring that you might be changing the oil in 3 months or so, before it gets too hot (March-May is when I switch cars over to thicker oil normally). So you would have the 20W-50 for summer, but not be running it in the winter, when lows (here atleast) still hit freezing.

Good luck.

LB0193 · Feb 2, 2006

Fix the problem...its not going to stop leaking

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

thanks guys. i'll just fix it. how much would a shop charge me? i'd like to do it myself, but i don't have a spare day between work and school.

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

wow i just searched around... 400+?? no thanks. i guess i'll just have to make time.

Deleted member 87397 · Feb 2, 2006

do you have and auto or manual tranny? If you have a manual, and you are handy with a wrench you can do it in a few hours.

8950HO · Feb 2, 2006

Before replacing the rear main seal,make sure your PCV system is not plugged up.Take out the PCV valve and the rubber grommet the valve sits in the fish out the breather element screen and see if it`s plugged up.

Clean the breather element in acetone or buy a new one.

If that screen is plugged up,it can cause a perfectly good rear main seal to leak due to excessive crankcase pressure buildup.

Roland69 · Feb 2, 2006

I've seen that happen before makes sence too

90bronconate · Feb 2, 2006

8950HO said:
Before replacing the rear main seal,make sure your PCV system is not plugged up.Take out the PCV valve and the rubber grommet the valve sits in the fish out the breather element screen and see if it`s plugged up.

Clean the breather element in acetone or buy a new one.

If that screen is plugged up,it can cause a perfectly good rear main seal to leak due to excessive crankcase pressure buildup.

right. i'm going to try and clean everything really good this weekend to see where the leak is coming from and that is what i'll try first. if that fails then i get to tear into it.

edit - it's a manual trans

HISSIN50 · Feb 2, 2006

Dont overlook 8950HO's wise advice. It would definately suck to do that work to have this issue hang around.

When the crankcase pressure/vapors cant make it out of the PCV line, they tend to try and find the next path of least resistance, which is often the crank seals.

Point was to really go over what he mentioned - it might save you some wrenching.

Good luck.

vristang · Feb 2, 2006

8950HO said:
Before replacing the rear main seal,make sure your PCV system is not plugged up.Take out the PCV valve and the rubber grommet the valve sits in the fish out the breather element screen and see if it`s plugged up.

.

Oooohhhhh!!!!! The screen goes under the grommet.
I will admit I am a jack@$$.
But in my defense, I never did see what the proper setup was.

Now I regret using silicone on the grommet.

The pcv seems to cause more porblems than people think.
I would check that out first.

jason

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