HA HA HA oil leak with first use of PAO syn.

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Vasili

Joined
Sep 21, 2005
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Well this is interesting. First things first, the car is a 1988 Mercury Topaz L with a 2.3L I4. The last oil change was with Motomaster Formula 1 100% Synthetic (yes I know its only group 3) for a 1 year oil change interval that ended about a week ago. The car was driven for 3,600 km (2,250 miles).

Also, the car has never consumed any oil (including the last OCI), it has over 216,000 kms (135,000 miles), and hasn't leaked any oil either.

Now for the current details. As mentioned above an oil change was done about a week ago. The oil that is in the engine now is Esso Extra XD-3 0w30 and a NAPA Gold oil filter. The engine itself has a capacity of 5 quarts (4.7 litres) of oil. Esso Extra XD-3 0W-30, however, comes in 1 litre bottles (or you could get the jugs but I'm not sure how large they are).

Any way, I took the oil and the filter to my trusted garage (which my family has been using for almost 20 years, and we've never had a problem with them. Like they say when you find a good garage stick with it) and they were more than happy to do the oil change. Interestingly enough they put all 5 litres of oil into the engine, even though the capacity is 4.7 litres. When I got home I checked it (I forgot to take paper towel with me to the garage, I should have kept some in the trunk but I forgot) and it was clearly over the full like by about half a cm (1/5 of an inch). I didn't think anything of it, because realistically its only over by about a cup, and its suppose to have 5 quarts.

Today, I took a look under my car and found a puddle. I'm thinking, that's either oil or coolant, and its probably not the coolant. I put the car in neutral and pushed it back a bit to see, and sure enough it was oil. Oh well, at least I can still use the oil filter with AutoRX, too bad I have to dump the oil I was thinking. I guess it would have been a bigger loss if it was GC (especially since it seems now its going to be AC and GC is going to be a thing of the past), but I digress.

I checked the oil level, and surprise of surprises, the oil was exactly (and I mean exactly) at the full mark. I found that odd to say the least, but then again who knows. I wondering now if its possible the engine simply got rid of the extra oil while it was sitting there for four day. I know, I know, that's not possible, at least it isn't suppose to be.

Any way, I'll check the car again in a few days, maybe a week, and post back here. This car is more of a winter car/spare car, so I can wait and see, since I don't drive it everyday any way.
 
First use of some Syns may cause an oil leak at first. Give it an interval, better yet, AutoRx it this interval. Good thing it was Esso Extra XD-3 0w30 and not $9/qt oil. Was it parked on any kind of incline after the oil was changed?
 
leak at dipstick to pan area? or they spilled oil on cross member and did not wipe off?

Would not blame oil itself NO oil will cause a leak in 1-2 days.
bruce
 
@427Z06 Yeah you got a really good point about the cost. LOL The oil only cost me C$6(US$5.39) a bottle (1 litre), and it has a TBN of 12.2 so I'm really happy about that. As for the incline, no such luck. Its in the garage, which is perfectly flat.

AutoRX syn? I thought that AutoRX was suppose to be used with dino juice, although I don't remember anything specifically saying no syn, if I remember correctly they just said it would be slightly less effective with syn. I'll have to take another look at their website.

@bruce381 As far as I now it didn't leak at the dipstick/pan area, but I'll have to take another look since I'm not completely sure. They could have spilled some oil, to be honest I didn't take a good look, since I was in a rush and really busy that day.

Yeah, I found it unlikely that the oil would clean the seals and find a leak in only 5 kms (3.125 miles) of driving, from the garage home, and then sitting there for four days since the oil change.

@jsharp Its leaking from the left side around the middle portion (if you are standing in front of the car, and looking into the engine bay). The reason I was thinking of dumping it was to put dino juice in for AutoRX. Now that I think about it, I don't remember what their website said about reconditioning seals (if dino juice is best, or if syn would be okay) so I'll have to take another look.

Any way, I'll look again in a few days or a week. This car only gets driven about once or twice a week, so I can afford to wait. Thanks for the replies and the tips 427Z06, bruce381, and jsharp.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vasili:
AutoRX syn? I thought that AutoRX was suppose to be used with dino juice, although I don't remember anything specifically saying no syn, if I remember correctly they just said it would be slightly less effective with syn. I'll have to take another look at their website.
Click to expand...
Have another look at the website. IIRC, dino is only "required" for the rinse phase.

quote:
Originally posted by Vasili:
This car only gets driven about once or twice a week, so I can afford to wait.
Click to expand...
Down the road, you might reevaluate whether good ole' 5w30 SM/GF-4 might be all you really need for this application.
 
I have read other posts on here from people that had a leak when going to a PSO. Must be some slippery stuff...?

By the way, I thought that once you got a leak from Synthetic oil, it pretty much keeps leaking even when you go back to dino...??
 
This is directly from http://www.auto-rx.com FAQ section...

"Q: Does it matter what type of oil I use with Auto-Rx®?
A: It does not matter what type of oil you use for the cleaning phase of the Auto-Rx® application. However, for maximum results we recommend that you use plain, non-synthetic oil for the "rinse" phase. Please see Application Instructions for complete details.

Q: Why do you recommend non-synthetic oil for the rinse" phase of the application?
A: We recommend simple, non-synthetic oil (do not use-semi synthetic or high-mileage oil) for this important step in the Auto-Rx® Application. Synthetic oil has a complex additive package that polarizes the liquefied debris on the engine's internal oil-lubricated parts. The goal is to rinse all the internal parts of this liquefied debris, and a good "Dino Oil", with its simple additive package, does the job very well."

Well that clears that up. Sort of... I just looked at the Application Instructions, which have been copied below. I didn't copy the whole thing, since its long, just the description at the beginning.

"Auto-Rx® Automotive Application Instructions

How to Stop Seal Leaks

Before you start the seal-leak procedure be sure that you are using regular, non-synthetic oil. Non-synthetic oil must be used for the entire application. The composition of non-synthetic oil is best suited to work with Auto-Rx® to help clean behind the seals and set it tight against the metal.

Auto-Rx® can be added to your existing oil if you have at least 1,500 miles of service life left in the oil, or you can change to fresh oil if you wish. If you elect to change your oil before running the application then start with Step 2."

Well that clears that up completely now. I'll check the car again in a few days, and if the seals are still leaking (I'll have to make sure its the seals first), then I'll just do the Auto-rx with the dino juice and fix the problem that way.

Who knows, maybe the engine is leaking oil because its 6/6/6 today? I don't know, I find that highly unlikely, but one never knows.
 
I agree with 427Z06, I'm not understanding why you are using a synthetic on a car that old, that only gets driven once in a blue moon. Dino could do the same thing, providing the few times it is driven, it gets up to op temp and has a chance to burn out any moisture in the oil.
 
You do plan on dumping the XD-3 into a jug or something to be used at a later date, right? To just dump it and let it go to waste in order to do an Auto-Rx treatment would be a shame
nono.gif
LOL...
 
Changing oil brands can cause a problem like this one. Every oil has its own seal conditioners which will swell or shrink the seals to a different extent.

I developed a small leak two days after my change to a different oil which took a few months to correct by itself ,so i think it is possible to happen.

[ June 06, 2006, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: yannis ]
 
The 2.3HSC is an oil leak waiting to happen, just the nature of the beast. Front seals, timing cover gaskets, oil pan gaskets and even the head gasket love to leak oil.
 
Dude, sythetic oil in an 88 Topaz? Not knockin the car or anything but it would probably prefer a dino/GrIII, regardless.. why pay more for more problems?
 
quote:
Originally posted by the_oil_dealer:
Dude, sythetic oil in an 88 Topaz? Not knockin the car or anything but it would probably prefer a dino/GrIII, regardless.. why pay more for more problems?
Click to expand...
This is pretty much the same reason I started using dino instead of RP in the wife's 03 Neon. I figure that the transmission will fall out long before the engine will wear out anyway.
 
Check the drain bolt and filter for tightness. Trust no one but yourself to do any work on your vehicle and only trust yourself on Tuesdays thru Thursdays.
lol.gif
 
This is not caused by the oil, it is caused by overfilling and higher crankcase pressures which might have pushed out a seal or something.

Not the oil's fault and changing it would be REALLY foolish.

Keep it in there and keep driving, chances are the leak or overflow will stop.
 
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