Age apparently matters for life of seals

[manicrodder]

My wife’s Hummer has 42,000 miles but is 14 years old. Last week it developed an oil leak. I have 1500 miles on the current fill of 5W-30 Pennzoil platinum.
I purchased Bars leaks oil saver for $19. Installed and leak stopped within four days. The Hummer has been on synthetic oil all its life and I take it on the highway to warm it up every few weeks.
I use Mobil1 or Pennzoil. I think the leak must be due to the 14 years. The product worked as advertised but from here on out I guess I will use Pennzoil high mileage synthetic or similar.

 

[gregk24]

Maybe the seals shrink over time?

 

[manicrodder]

Maybe the seals shrink over time?

Exactly what I was thinking.

My wife’s Hummer has 42,000 miles but is 14 years old. Last week it developed an oil leak. I have 1500 miles on the current fill of 5W-30 Pennzoil platinum.
I purchased Bars leaks oil saver for $19. Installed and leak stopped within four days. The Hummer has been on synthetic oil all its life and I take it on the highway to warm it up every few weeks.
I use Mobil1 or Pennzoil. I think the leak must be due to the 14 years. The product worked as advertised but from here on out I guess I will use Pennzoil high mileage synthetic or similar.

 

[ABN_CBT_ENGR]

For The record ( we have to do heavy duty seal PM and checking in industry)

Over time ( take your pick, all of them happen at once)

Seal materials degrade

Seal garter devices lose tension

Seals "flat spot" and/or stretch

Seals will hold moisture around the contact zone and eventually initiate corrosion

Seals will also collect 'stuff" and then act like a sanding belt

That's the short list- then comes all the failure modes from actually running

 

[PimTac]

Does this Hummer sit for extended periods? That combined with the little bit of driving it gets could be a factor.

 

[wpod]

My old 1996 Toyota Tacoma at 20 years old didn't even have moist areas any where there could have been oil leaking.

 

[manicrodder]

Does this Hummer sit for extended periods? That combined with the little bit of driving it gets could be a factor.

Gets driven to and from work and the store but short miles.

 

[manicrodder]

My old 1996 Toyota Tacoma at 20 years old didn't even have moist areas any where there could have been oil leaking.

What oil(s) were used?

 

[Dave9]

As always, miles are a very poor indicator of anything if your use falls outside of some average. Short trips or high highway make mileage more trivia than anything else when comparing fluid or component lifespans.

Surely age was a factor, but if you put on 42K miles short tripping it, in fewer years it will still add up, the cumulative effect of both factors.

However you did not mention WHERE it is leaking? If you intend to keep it long term, and despite being a Hummer (specialty GM products always have their flaws) it may be worth keeping up on maintenance like that at only 42K miles, especially in Vegas where I doubt it's building up much rust. If you can't DIY then I would get an estimate on seal replacement.

 

[PimTac]

Gets driven to and from work and the store but short miles.

Sounds like the engine never really gets up to full operating temperature and sustained at that for a period of time. A lot of oil additives don’t start to fully work until they get up to temperature.

Your Hummer needs a extended drive every week or so. I’m in the same boat as the Mazda only runs about once or twice a week but I use those times to take the long way. I drive about 5k a year.

 

[manicrodder]

As always, miles are a very poor indicator of anything if your use falls outside of some average. Short trips or high highway make mileage more trivia than anything else when comparing fluid or component lifespans.

Surely age was a factor, but if you put on 42K miles short tripping it, in fewer years it will still add up, the cumulative effect of both factors.

However you did not mention WHERE it is leaking? If you intend to keep it long term, and despite being a Hummer (specialty GM products always have their flaws) it may be worth keeping up on maintenance like that at only 42K miles, especially in Vegas where I doubt it's building up much rust. If you can't DIY then I would get an estimate on seal replacement.

I am in Cedar City Utah now and moving no more. Elevation 5970. Need to change location but haven’t figured out how to with this system.

 

[manicrodder]

Sounds like the engine never really gets up to full operating temperature and sustained at that for a period of time. A lot of oil additives don’t start to fully work until they get up to temperature.

Your Hummer needs a extended drive every week or so. I’m in the same boat as the Mazda only runs about once or twice a week but I use those times to take the long way. I drive about 5k a year.

I do take it on the interstate every several weeks.

 

[manicrodder]

As always, miles are a very poor indicator of anything if your use falls outside of some average. Short trips or high highway make mileage more trivia than anything else when comparing fluid or component lifespans.

Surely age was a factor, but if you put on 42K miles short tripping it, in fewer years it will still add up, the cumulative effect of both factors.

However you did not mention WHERE it is leaking? If you intend to keep it long term, and despite being a Hummer (specialty GM products always have their flaws) it may be worth keeping up on maintenance like that at only 42K miles, especially in Vegas where I doubt it's building up much rust. If you can't DIY then I would get an estimate on seal replacement.

Valve cover

Maybe the seals shrink over time?

I am in Cedar City Utah now and moving no more. Elevation 5970. Need to change location but haven’t figured out how to with this system.

Are there opinions as to a top performer among high mileage oil’s for leaks? I’m sure there must be.

 

[Dave9]

Oh, only valve cover(s)? It would obviously be easier to throw in a high mileage oil and see what happens, but that's not the type of seal that high mileage oil makes as much difference leak-stopping. Regardless I would seriously consider DIY replacing those, and if there are other things due for it at the time, made more accessible while you're doing it, say you are due for a thermostat or temperature sensor, PCV or EGR, and a new intake manifold gasket will probably avoid having to change it later anyway, again if you are keeping it long term. Obviously I've no idea what has been replaced already in a 14 year old vehicle.

Some people just live with valve cover leaks depending on how bad they are, but if you do start breaking it down to get to them, be careful about the OEM rubber molded in special shapes that a standard piece of hose won't easily replace.

 

[92saturnsl2]

If that's a vehicle you intend to own for a long time, I'd stop using the Bar's leak products and just fix the valve cover gasket.

 

[manicrodder]

If that's a vehicle you intend to own for a long time, I'd stop using the Bar's leak products and just fix the valve cover gasket.

Stop gap. As I said only 1500 miles on the oil. I will take action as needed between now and the next oil change.

 

[MolaKule]

When discussing seals such as in engines, transmissions, and other driveline components, the context is that of using flexible, elastomeric materials to keep fluids contained within those mechanical system that have rotating components exiting the system, such as protruding rotating shafts.

For a gasket, the context is that of using a material (such as silicone or cork or composite), or some other material to keep fluids contained in and around stationary objects, such as the valve cover gasket on an engine or the pan gasket on an automatic transmission.

Both seals and gaskets "prevent" loss of fluids...

Conditioning seals refers to the following actions:

1) Increasing seal pliability due to molecular replacement of the Seal 's elastomer
2) Seal cleaning,
since 1974, formulations have pretty much solved the seal "shrink-swell" problem.

Stop leak fluids have little effect on Gaskets, so if you have a leak to the outside, it is usually due to a Gasket, not a Seal.

Now on older vehicles or vehicles with rear wheel drives, the most common fluid leak occurs because of a worn tailshaft seal, and is mostly seen when parking on an upslope where the rear of the vehicle is below the front.

On front wheel drive vehicles, the most common fluid leak is due to the pan gasket, in my experience.

 

[manicrodder]

Thanks. H3 is a true full time 4 wheel drive.

 

[Leo99]

I've had several vehicles sent to the junkyard due to leaky seals. My old Jerokee was springing leaks left and right. Leaky rms did her in. Got tired of changing seals every couple of months.

 

[Silver]

I can't fathom how after a hundred years or so we can't make friggin' seals and gaskets that don't leak way before the engine is done. I guess it comes down to us not having the material needed to stand up to the task.