I made big mistake

Bailey · #1 04-20-2008, 07:02 AM

This is a lesson in knowing just enough to be dangerous...last time I had my oil changed I put in synthetic and then my car was parked for a few months this winter until repairs were done, this was a BIG MISTAKE I know have learned. ( I thought I had read somewhere on the forum that synthetic was good...I should have read more threads! now I understand synthetic is very very bad on an older engine.) Now that I am driving it again the past few days after having a front strut replaced, what was once a tiny leak is now a full-on leak, big puddle of oil under my car. Now I am going to have to take it in to see what all is leaking. I feel sick. I was just starting to save up for the transfer clutch repair , having just paid for new strut, new tires, new battery.

svxistentialist · #2 04-20-2008, 09:31 AM

I am sorry to hear this has caused you trouble. Yes, for sure we have had conflicting opinions and advice on this down the years.

In general it is true that fully synthetic is the best you can get. It does not "die" or wear out as quick as mineral oil, plus it has superior lubricating ability over a wider range of temperatures and usage conditions.

On the minus side it tends to find leaks or bad seals pretty quickly. If your SVX has been run a long time on mineral oil, at higher mileages the seals on the front of the engine tend to fail. We think that mineral oil over the years tends to put a deposit around the seals which slows or disguises the leak. You might see a slight drip, you might not.

When you put fully synthetic into such an older engine with these mineral deposits around the seals, the synthetic oil dissolves the deposits, and proceeds to pour out past the bad seal creating an instant problem.

Replacing these seals is the way to go, as they were on the way out anyway before you changed to synthetic and highlighted the problem. They are not all that expensive, but the labor for doing the job can be. Is there any clued-up SVX member with mechanical ability close to you that could help you with changing these seals at home? It's not that major a job.

Just as another piece of information, if your SVX is over 100K miles [or even 80K] and there is no record of the timing belt having been replaced, you should now use this opportunity to get that belt changed, and replace the seals in the same job, cutting down on labor.

Oh and after doing the job go back to ordinary mineral oil or to semi synthetic oil for the future. Your SVX genuinely does not need fully synthetic unless you are racing it.

Joe

Schralper · #3 04-20-2008, 09:40 AM

proof that syn's flow way better than conventional oils.
come on now how big is the puddle?
it's probably just a dribble from the valve cover.
isn't this what the belly pan is for? catching the oil before it dribbles?

Bailey · #4 04-20-2008, 10:51 AM

thanks for information... I appreciate it.
well, I can add:
my car has 100,000 miles.
Thanks for advice on timing belt, sounds like that would be a good idea to do at same time.
No one lives near me to do the work, but I know very reputable repair shop that isnt the dealership so will be about 40% cheaper than dealer and I trust them.

about the puddle:
I used to have a very small puddle under car that I wasn't too worried about, you could tell from looking at it that it was fairly dry, car had been parked there for a long time and not much new wet stuff of significance.

I would say this new very fresh puddle is about 2' x 1' in dia, and just occured over 2 day period when my car was intermittently parked outside my garage on my rather steep driveway two days after work. (Would the fact that it was parked on an incline make a difference?) Now this is weird, yesterday afternoon I pulled the car into the garage and it has been in garage now for about 20 hours and I just backed it out and looked under it and no leaking there yet.

I am going to put some newspaper down under my car today and see how much it is leaking. Maybe I raised the alarm too quickly . There is a slight chance this is perhaps coming from my son's car...bad for him, good for me. Or maybe both cars are leaking.

svxistentialist · #5 04-20-2008, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bailey

thanks for information... I appreciate it.
well, I can add:
my car has 100,000 miles.
Thanks for advice on timing belt, sounds like that would be a good idea to do at same time.
No one lives near me to do the work, but I know very reputable repair shop that isnt the dealership so will be about 40% cheaper than dealer and I trust them.

about the puddle:
I used to have a very small puddle under car that I wasn't too worried about, you could tell from looking at it that it was fairly dry, car had been parked there for a long time and not much new wet stuff of significance.

I would say this new very fresh puddle is about 2' x 1' in dia, and just occured over 2 day period when my car was intermittently parked outside my garage on my rather steep driveway two days after work. (Would the fact that it was parked on an incline make a difference?) Now this is weird, yesterday afternoon I pulled the car into the garage and it has been in garage now for about 20 hours and I just backed it out and looked under it and no leaking there yet.

I am going to put some newspaper down under my car today and see how much it is leaking. Maybe I raised the alarm too quickly . There is a slight chance this is perhaps coming from my son's car...bad for him, good for me. Or maybe both cars are leaking.

Well, this is probably good news!

I'm going to hazard a guess you parked the car nose up and tail down. Am I right?

Well, Schralper is correct, the belly pan does actually catch a lot of the oil leaks, and is covered by a sort of spongy fibre on the inside designed to soak up the oil and not have it flowing back over the exhaust.

It is possible that whatever oil had leaked from your car over a period was sitting in the belly pan and held there by the porous fibre.

When you parked on the steep incline for a while, the oil may have leaked back and onto the ground.

The fact that you parked for 20 hours with no leaks is a positive thing. Keeping an eye to it should be OK for now. If you have no record of the timing belt being replaced, plan to do that at your independent garage soon. When the covers are stripped there may be less of the seals leaking than you think.

There is one more thing you could check out, and it may make a good difference to your leaks. Check if your oil dipstick is popping up, it's the one on the right near the battery, not the ATF one farther back. If this is popping up it means your crankcase is under pressure. In turn this means your PCV valve or maybe your EGR valve is not working properly. These items are an easy and cheap fix. If you attend to them the oil will not be getting forced out of your seals by pressure that is not supposed to be there if everything was working properly.

Joe

b3lha · #6 04-20-2008, 12:09 PM

When the puddles stop appearing on the garage floor, it means it's time to add some more oil to your engine.

Just kidding. But do check the level on the dipstick!

The first thing to do is remove the underpan and try to figure out where the oil is leaking from. It could be as simple as a loose oil filter.

kwren · #7 04-20-2008, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

There is one more thing you could check out, and it may make a good difference to your leaks. Check if your oil dipstick is popping up, it's the one on the right near the battery, not the ATF one farther back. If this is popping up it means your crankcase is under pressure. In turn this means your PCV valve or maybe your EGR valve is not working properly. These items are an easy and cheap fix. If you attend to them the oil will not be getting forced out of your seals by pressure that is not supposed to be there if everything was working properly.

Joe

Where can we find the information on the cheap and easy fixes of the PVC and EGR valves??
Thanks,
Keith