PU, And Now A Leak

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Feb 28, 2003
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Cajun Country, La.
2003 Silverado, 5.3 V8, 153K Miles
Awhile back my cousin and I bought 25 qts. of various weights of PU from WM @ $2.50 a qt. (I bought 6 @ 5W30). He has always used PYB and Puro Classic filters since he bought his truck with 19K miles on it.
Well, he is almost 2200 miles into his first ever synthetic OCI. And, it's with some of the PU 5W30. The engine is now leaking oil from the front crank seal/oil pan gasket and the rear main seal.
While he was under the truck surveying the damage, I never knew that he knew such vulgar language!
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I switched to amsoil 0w-20 for winter in my track car, and it's leaking TONS of oil it never did before. Same boat. No idea why. Just gonna ride t out and let it happen.
 
PU of course didn't damage the seals but may have cleaned out some sludge that was stopping the oil leak.

Buy a can of some seal swell, I think Winns and Dunk are too brands. Add the recommended dosage and see if that helps.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
PU of course didn't damage the seals but may have cleaned out some sludge that was stopping the oil leak.

Buy a can of some seal swell, I think Winns and Dunk are too brands. Add the recommended dosage and see if that helps.

What about a HM oil, such as VML?
 
My 5.3 leaked a lot around bother valve covers when I used Mobil 1 EP. Went back to the usual PP or PU and all is fine. Funny how that happens.
 
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
What about a HM oil, such as VML?


Per the owners manual, 10w-30 is acceptable above 0°F.

With that in mind, and given your southern locale, Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-30 would be an exceptional choice.
 
I would keep with a quality synthetic. The leak should go away as the seals get conditioned.

What I have read is a "false seal" (of crud) can develop using dino oil and it does the sealing and prevents oil from conditioning the real seals properly. One switches to a quality synthetic and it cleans away the "false seal" but the real seal is dried out and takes some time to get conditioned again and stop the leak.

If you have a leak on the oil pan gasket, just change the gasket.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I'd try a HM oil and see what happens.

I talked to my cousin ealier and suggested a HM oil. Being he will ONLY put Pennzoil in his engines how does Pennzoil HM oil compare to other HM oils?
For some unknown reason he thinks switching to another name brand of oil is not a good practice.
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BTW, his brother will only use FRAM oil filters because Don Garlits and John Force uses them.
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Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I'd try a HM oil and see what happens.

I talked to my cousin ealier and suggested a HM oil. Being he will ONLY put Pennzoil in his engines how does Pennzoil HM oil compare to other HM oils?
For some unknown reason he thinks switching to another name brand of oil is not a good practice.
21.gif

BTW, his brother will only use FRAM oil filters because Don Garlits and John Force uses them.
confused2.gif



Doesn't he know that all that wax in the PYB is sludging up his engine? Now that you got him to put synthetic in, he can't ever go back to conventional oil.
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Some recent posts by others mention similar experiences and it is suggested to go back to the previous oil used for most of its life and see what transpires.

Some members have reported that the leaks ceased fairly quickly after switching back to the former oil.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: virginoil
Some recent posts by others mention similar experiences and it is suggested to go back to the previous oil used for most of its life and see what transpires.

Some members have reported that the leaks ceased fairly quickly after switching back to the former oil.

That's a different approach to the problem. But, in a way, it makes sense.
Has anyone had success in doing this?
 
Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I'd try a HM oil and see what happens.

I talked to my cousin ealier and suggested a HM oil. Being he will ONLY put Pennzoil in his engines how does Pennzoil HM oil compare to other HM oils?
For some unknown reason he thinks switching to another name brand of oil is not a good practice.
21.gif

BTW, his brother will only use FRAM oil filters because Don Garlits and John Force uses them.
confused2.gif



Pennzoil HM oil is fine, no worries there.
 
Last night my cousin put in 2 bottles of dye from NAPA. There are 2 leaks; rear main seal and front crank/timing cover seal.
The tear down to R&R both seals begins Friday night.
To be continued............
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
PU of course didn't damage the seals but may have cleaned out some sludge that was stopping the oil leak.

Buy a can of some seal swell, I think Winns and Dunk are too brands. Add the recommended dosage and see if that helps.


This.

When swiching a higher mileage vehicle to synthetic, expect some leaks at first. Every 80k + vehicle I have switched over has had some leaking, which tapered off and stopped after around 3000 miles. The way I understand it, the seals may have hardened or may have some buildup; the synthetic takes a bit of mileage to correct these issues.

I would hold off on the seal swellers for at least 3-5k and keep it topped off until then.
 
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