Using dye to trace oil leaks

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Anyone have good or bad experiences with this?
Any possibility that the dye can do harm to the engine?
My truck has a nasty oil leak that I have a hard time tracing.
 
If you don't get your vehicle very clean and dry underneath you're wasting your time.

Get some ramps and jack stands and go to the car wash that has a slot with a grease trap for this kind of cleaning. Wear safety glasses and get prepared to make a mess. Be kind enough to clean up when finished. Do it more than once if your vehicle is really dirty.

Other than that, keep guessing.
 
Originally Posted By: sr17
Anyone have good or bad experiences with this?
Any possibility that the dye can do harm to the engine?
My truck has a nasty oil leak that I have a hard time tracing.


Dye is one of the most inexpensive and valuable diagnostic tools you can own. The dye is totally harmless.
Its best to get a good UV light and check it in the dark or low light, the dye streak will show right up. You can get dye for engine oil, transmission/PS fluid, coolant (dexccol need a special dye), A/C systems and fuel.
Once you use it and see the results you will wonder why you didn't try this before.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: sr17
Anyone have good or bad experiences with this?
Any possibility that the dye can do harm to the engine?
My truck has a nasty oil leak that I have a hard time tracing.


Dye is one of the most inexpensive and valuable diagnostic tools you can own. The dye is totally harmless.
Its best to get a good UV light and check it in the dark or low light, the dye streak will show right up. You can get dye for engine oil, transmission/PS fluid, coolant (dexccol need a special dye), A/C systems and fuel.
Once you use it and see the results you will wonder why you didn't try this before.


+1

I chased an oil leak for months and then bought a UV dye kit. I drove about 10 miles and when I returned home I found the leak/leaks in 5 minutes.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: sr17
Anyone have good or bad experiences with this?
Any possibility that the dye can do harm to the engine?
My truck has a nasty oil leak that I have a hard time tracing.


Dye is one of the most inexpensive and valuable diagnostic tools you can own. The dye is totally harmless.
Its best to get a good UV light and check it in the dark or low light, the dye streak will show right up. You can get dye for engine oil, transmission/PS fluid, coolant (dexccol need a special dye), A/C systems and fuel.
Once you use it and see the results you will wonder why you didn't try this before.


Thanks for the info Trav! I already purchased the dye, just did not have the courage to pour it in, lol. Do I need yellow glasses too, or will a UV light be enough? Actually it says on the dye I bough that it can be detected with UV or LED light.
 
The LED lights are still UV. No glasses are needed but they do help with blue LED UV light, it makes it clearer.
A normal white LED flashlight will not illuminate the dye.
 
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I just had an Indy Mechanic replace the Gasket behind my Timing Chain Cover.
That was 7 hours of Labor.

Next day I see oil leaking onto my garage floor.
I put the 'dye' in thru dip-stick hole.

A day later I check with Ultra-Violet Light.
Sure enough, I see the OIL LEAK glowing at the bottom of Timing Cover.

Conclusion: The Mechanic didn't do a good job.
I went back to Mechanic and told him about the leak and me adding the dye.
There is no denying where the leak is / end of story.
I go back in 2 Weeks.

Make your life easier.
I don't think you really need to do any cleaning up if your going to add the dye.

Add the 'oil base' dye (not for Coolant) and use a ultra-violet Flashlight.
Good luck.

Edit: I recommend the Yellow Glass's, but there not required.
 
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Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
A leak on the Matrix and where was it?


Front seal and timing chain cover.

At around 165k miles I replaced a lot of seals/gaskets on this car. Lived it's life on a 3k-8k mile OCI on dino oil. From 165k(ish) miles to present it's been on syn oil. I did all the work myself so the expense wasn't too bad either.
 
Not sure if it is the dye that is bad, or if it is the uv flashlight I bough - the oil is certainly not lighting up anything like the pictures above.
 
Was the dye an orange color? Mine was and was a little harder to spot than the green. It definitely showed up though.

If it's not a terrible leak it may take time to see the dye.
 
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