my 4th rear main seal in 5k miles

[teal99camaro]

dont worry uys its all in good fun. but you guys think that if i switch to petrol oil i'll be fine?

[l1tech]

SYNTHETIC OR NOT...HAS NO EFFECT ON THE SEALS DOING THEIR JOB PROPERLY

[BiH]

Originally posted by l1tech:
SYNTHETIC OR NOT...HAS NO EFFECT ON THE SEALS DOING THEIR JOB PROPERLY

exactly

[38fury]

Originally posted by l1tech:
SYNTHETIC OR NOT...HAS NO EFFECT ON THE SEALS DOING THEIR JOB PROPERLY

Thats not 100% true, for setting the seals its always better to use petrol. For after that few hundred miles it is fine to switch to synthetic, but if your car has been using one type of oil and you switch to the other your seals will leak. If your car had petrol oil before you got it for the life of it and it has more than 50k miles you shouldn't make the switch. When you rebuild an engine you should use petrol oil to properly set the seals. You're part right you could luck out and have synthetic work fine.

[38fury]

Thats the big difference is SETTING the seals.

[White95]

my car had 50k some odd miles and i switch to synthetic and had no problems. its clearly your seal not doing its job so now you need to figure out wtf is cauing it not to work right. is your car a manual?? If so the chances of crank walk are increased

[teal99camaro]

Auto

[l1tech]

I think you guys are confusing setting the seals with setting the rings..no such thing as setting the seals..they either leak or don't leak. What if you have always used syn oil and after a year you get seal that is leaking, now you replace the seal.. PROPERLY...what kind of oil do you use? It don't matter....

[Dizturbed One]

Originally posted by 38fury:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by l1tech:
SYNTHETIC OR NOT...HAS NO EFFECT ON THE SEALS DOING THEIR JOB PROPERLY

Thats not 100% true, for setting the seals its always better to use petrol. For after that few hundred miles it is fine to switch to synthetic, but if your car has been using one type of oil and you switch to the other your seals will leak. If your car had petrol oil before you got it for the life of it and it has more than 50k miles you shouldn't make the switch. When you rebuild an engine you should use petrol oil to properly set the seals. You're part right you could luck out and have synthetic work fine. </font>[/QUOTE]very common old wives tale

i notice ALOT of people have misconceptions and doubts about synthetic but synthetic is better in all aspects

it holds up to thermal breakdown better. it lubricates better. it gets into tighter tolerances. its cleaner, and stays cleaner much longer.

the ONLY problem you MAY have with synthetic is elevated levels of leaking on a car that already had an oil leak.

even then... its nothing astronomical... and synthetic doesn't start "finding" new leaks like everyone tries to say either.

the only place synthetic causes problems is your wallet!

I just did an oil change on my 92 RS for the first time since I've had this car (about 2 months)It had 129K miles when I got it, it had 133K when I changed the oil.
I switched it over to synthetic with no problems.

The same on my dads 160K worktruck, and he said it tows better under a load now too (temperature wise)

as for the rear seal, I believe its something as simple as your oil pan gasket. As someone already stated, I've seen mechanics mix up the two leaks at least a dozen times.

And half the time they don't prep your oil pan to put it back on or anything, so the new gasket makes no difference and it continues to leak. Have them pound out all the indentations in the pan and tighten the nuts in a criss cross pattern without tightening the bolts all the way at once. only a turn or two at a time.

it seems stupid, but I recently watched a mechanic who was 20 years in the business install an oilpan and he just slapped the gasket on, then proceeded to tighten every bolt one right after the other all the way... I couldn't believe it.

When I tried to point out that he is leaving it susceptible to leaks he simply shrugged it off and took slight offense at my suggestion stating that "he has been a mechanic as long as I've been alive."

I didn't say anything out of respect, because he is my dads friend...

But when he fired up the motor it leaked like an S.O.B... And I was right there smiling.