Well this is truly odd. I just checked the oil, its been eight days now that its been in, and four days since I checked and noticed the leak. The leak has stopped and the oil is at the exact same point on the dipstick as it was four days ago.
This doesn't make any sense to me. I do know that the car was overfilled by 300 ml, but I don't see how the car could have dumped the excess oil, and stopped there. Oh well, the car is fine, so its all good.
@bighead Simple and there are three reasons. First, the car is in good working order, and will probably last at least a few more years (and that's a conservative estimate). The car was also rust proofed so that's not going to be an issue any time soon.
Second, I don't feel like driving any thing else during the winter, especially with all the road salt here. I've also heard that they planning to switch from road salt, to something with magnesium (I'm probably wrong on that). The point is, the places where they have already switched, it costs them less to salt the roads, but now the cars rust even faster. I'm sure the auto makers are happy about this.
Thirdly, I drive this car mostly in the city, but I don't drive in traffic. Most of the trips are short ones about 3 kms (about 2 miles). If I were using dino juice, I would have to change it more often, and I don't want dino juice in there for six months. Its simply a cost saving measure, this costs me less over the course of a year, and I get better protection. After all, I drive 3,600 kms (2,250 miles) a year, so what am I going to do? Change it every three months? That's every 900 kms (562.5 miles), and to me that is truly nuts. Even with API SA (I'm not old enough to remember) they were changing it every 1,000 miles, or was it every 2,000 miles?
@Gilitar This is possible, and that was something I was slightly worried about. It seems not to have been the case. Still its all very odd if you ask me. Oil leaks when its overfilled, but stops right when it reaches the full mark.
@yannis You have a very good point, in the end that is possibly what could have happened.
@punisher Interesting. Well that's something to keep in mind.
@ToyotaNSaturn That's very interesting. I've heard that people have had problem with this model of car, but for us its been great. Its important to keep in mind that we've had it since new, so we've made sure that its been properly taken care of. The gaskets, however, would go, even if you took care of the car, if they were bad.
@the_oil_dealer Interesting point of view. In my case, it comes down to the money. Based on the number of kms I drive this car in a year, its cheaper to change the oil once a year. The reality is that the price of Esso Extra XD-3 0w30 was cheaper than what I could get a Group III oil for, so it just made sense money wise.
@Gilitar You do have a valid point there. Even with dino, something else will probably kill the car before the oil does.
@Chris Meutsch Thanks. Done simply with TLC.
@Truck&Cycle I like the way that you think, and you are right. Since the leak stopped, I'm not sure what to think. Since I was the only one home this week I doubt that any one was playing a prank. Otherwise I wouldn't put it past them, pouring some oil under the car, and saying look its a leak. In fact, I should ask. LOL
@BlazerLT That's what I was thinking too. I mean yes HEDO does clean better and whatnot, but to clean the seals to the point where they leak in only 5 kms (3.125 miles), that just doesn't sound right even to me.
@Gary Allan If I recall correctly, in 88 they redid the electronics for the engine, but mechanically it would have remained the same. 15 mpg? OUCH! That doesn't sound fun. One of the other reasons we still keep the car is that its great on gas. The mpg is still the same as when new, so we're happy with that.
It was so bad that it actually got down to 15 mpg
