Never had an oil leak, but now... :-/

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My parents gave my daughter their old 2002 Trailblazer a few years ago when she went off to college. It had maybe 145K miles on it when they gave it to her. They had always used conventional oil, so I stuck with it. A few weeks ago she was home and I did an oil change. I didn't have any conventional on hand so I used some syn blend Castrol Magnatec 5W30 that I'd bought a while back. I was under her car a few days ago (starter went out--grrrrr!) and noticed a little bit of oil. Nothing was dripping yet, but there was a little oil noticeable. I'm wondering if going to a syn blend started an oil leak. :-( I hope not because no matter how often I tell her to check her oil level, she never does. Do leaks that result from changing oil brands/types ever clear up or is this just something that I'm going to have to deal with? I doubt it is anything I'll fix...I'll just have to monitor it.
 
It might stabilize but I'd switch it back to a HM conventional. Pennzoil HM basically stopped my 96 Cherokee from leaking. Maxlife did nothing.
 
Tbh I would say the oil leak was already there, but you just never noticed the wetness until you tried to deal with the starter. Some people swear going to syn can cause an oil leak, but others say that isn't even possible. I wouldn't fret, maybe just try a high mileage oil or ATP AT-205 Re-Seal. They tend to work the best on smaller leaks. If you go with a HM oil, sometimes it takes a couple OCIs for the leak to slow/stop.
 
Originally Posted By: Smoqueed
Tbh I would say the oil leak was already there, but you just never noticed the wetness until you tried to deal with the starter. Some people swear going to syn can cause an oil leak, but others say that isn't even possible. I wouldn't fret, maybe just try a high mileage oil or ATP AT-205 Re-Seal. They tend to work the best on smaller leaks. If you go with a HM oil, sometimes it takes a couple OCIs for the leak to slow/stop.


Cool. Yeah, you could be right. I was definitely looking at a different part of the engine than you see when doing an oil change. You're probably right. I may buy some Maxlife the next time I do an oil change and run a couple of OCIs on it to see. It couldn't hurt!
 
my daughter is the same way so I have her send me a picture of the dipstick and I remind her that if the car breaks down due to lack of checking she walks
 
Originally Posted By: Nitronoise
my daughter is the same way so I have her send me a picture of the dipstick and I remind her that if the car breaks down due to lack of checking she walks


Heh. Yeah. I've told my kids essentially the same thing. I'll fix stuff that just breaks, but if something goes wrong because of your carelessness you're on your own for that repair cost.

I just hope one of them doesn't have to make an expensive mistake before they listen to me. :-/ Once they get out of college and are on their own, they can do whatever they want to do. But while they are still dependents, I'm going to bug them to check their oil, etc.
 
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Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
Originally Posted By: Nitronoise
my daughter is the same way so I have her send me a picture of the dipstick and I remind her that if the car breaks down due to lack of checking she walks


Heh. Yeah. I've told my kids essentially the same thing. I'll fix stuff that just breaks, but if something goes wrong because of your carelessness you're on your own for that repair cost.

I just hope one of them doesn't have to make an expensive mistake before they listen to me. :-/ Once they get out of college and are on their own, they can do whatever they want to do. But while they are still dependents, I'm going to bug the @#($ out of them to check their oil, etc.


Once their out of High School they should be on their own.
 
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Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Once their out of High School they should be on their own. They aren't still breast feeding are they?


That's one opinion. They both have part time jobs and are full time students. I help them out just like most fathers would while at the same time attempt to teach them some responsibility.

Looking for technical/car advice, get parenting advice.
smirk.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Once their out of High School they should be on their own. They aren't still breast feeding are they?


That's one opinion. They both have part time jobs and are full time students. I help them out just like most fathers would while at the same time attempt to teach them some responsibility.

Looking for technical/car advice, get parenting advice.
smirk.gif



They should have known what responsibility was by the time they were out of Junior High!
 
Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Once their out of High School they should be on their own. They aren't still breast feeding are they?


That's one opinion. They both have part time jobs and are full time students. I help them out just like most fathers would while at the same time attempt to teach them some responsibility.

Looking for technical/car advice, get parenting advice.
smirk.gif



They should have known what responsibility was by the time they were out of Junior High!


wth...I think JJ is having some issues this morning....or always..who knows.
 
Originally Posted By: geekster

wth...I think JJ is having some issues this morning....or always..who knows.


I have no idea. I don't post all that much or really pay attention to usernames so I couldn't tell you.
frown.gif


Not that I feel the need to defend myself, but I've taught my kids how to check/change oil and check tire pressure. They are at least as responsible as *I* was at that age. They'll learn. Sometimes kids have to make their own mistakes. Experience is the best teacher...and it sometimes helps them realize that dad knows what he's talking about and isn't just telling them things for no reason.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
Originally Posted By: geekster

wth...I think JJ is having some issues this morning....or always..who knows.


I have no idea. I don't post all that much or really pay attention to usernames so I couldn't tell you.
frown.gif


Not that I feel the need to defend myself, but I've taught my kids how to check/change oil and check tire pressure. They are at least as responsible as *I* was at that age. They'll learn. Sometimes kids have to make their own mistakes. Experience is the best teacher...and it sometimes helps them realize that dad knows what he's talking about and isn't just telling them things for no reason.
smile.gif



Spot on! Sounds like they are doing just fine. Now in regards to what you really needed help on...I would just run HM all the time since it is out of your sight. Just for peace of mind. It's not going to hurt anything that's for sure.
 
My daughter is a speech therapist but in the middle of her college work, I had her take a sort of break and go to the local JC and take an automotive repair class. As a kid growing up she was always interested in my automotive and motorcycle hobbies. She really enjoyed the experience and took the next semester class, too.

They learned theory, did tune-ups, oil changes, radiator flushes, brake jobs, alignments, valve jobs, lots of diagnostic work and just about anything else you could imagine. That was one well-equipped shop.

Today she keeps a close eye on her husband. He and their mechanic get away with nothing when it comes to anything to do with the cars. One day her gravestone will have the inscription, "Yes, Daddy I checked my oil today". (lol)
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
My daughter is a speech therapist but in the middle of her college work, I had her take a sort of break and go to the local JC and take an automotive repair class. As a kid growing up she was always interested in my automotive and motorcycle hobbies. She really enjoyed the experience and took the next semester class, too.

They learned theory, did tune-ups, oil changes, radiator flushes, brake jobs, alignments, valve jobs, lots of diagnostic work and just about anything else you could imagine. That was one well-equipped shop.

Today she keeps a close eye on her husband. He and their mechanic get away with nothing when it comes to anything to do with the cars. One day her gravestone will have the inscription, "Yes, Daddy I checked my oil today". (lol)



Love it. That's a cool idea. My daughter took a shop class as a filler one semester in high school. It turns out she loved to weld and was really good at it. She ended up taking shop several more times and learned quite a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
It might stabilize but I'd switch it back to a HM conventional. Pennzoil HM basically stopped my 96 Cherokee from leaking. Maxlife did nothing.

Which type did you use; is it semi synthetic HM or conventional HM with red PennZoil logo on it please; I’m currently on Castrol semi synthetic HM and have a left at valve cover
 
Pennzoil HM is conventional, not synthetic blend. It's in a yellow bottle with red lettering I do believe. Not hard to find.

Maxlife, no doubt is a great oil, but I feel like it's a bit weaker in the HM department and not quite "HM" enough once symptoms start, but as a preventative measure is great.
 
I Thank You!

I’ll try to retorque valve cover and I’ll change oil with PennZoil HM this weekend and see what happens
 
In my experience, leaks do not simply clear up on their own. Also, synthetic oils technically can cause a leak because they usually have better cleaning power than conventional motor oils. So if a spot of sludge or gunk is plugging a potential oil leak, then the synthetic comes along and cleans out the gunk, you could develop a new leak. So while it is possible, it is rare, and you have to remember that in this gunk plug scenario, there was already a gunk issue present so take that into consideration.
The experience you are having with the oil seepage on the Trailblazer is the same experience I'm having with the valve cover on my Tacoma. I bought it with 40k and calls for 5w30 mineral oil. I switched from mineral oil to synthetic oil at 120,000 miles, and the engine was still super dry/no leaks at that mileage. About 10k miles later, I noticed seepage from the outer edge of the valve cover gasket up onto the valve cover. (The gasket also covers the spark plug tubes between the camshafts/center of the engine and it's seeping from there too). The seepage never drips or runs because it is very slight, just a very thin film of oil covering some parts of the valve cover, and it collects a bit of dust and grime. The seepage/oil film is growing over time but I don't really care that much, not enough to go back to conventional oil. This is not a show truck and there are no drips of any kind on the garage floor.
 
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