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my mother in law has a 1999 Lexus rx 300 with 197k miles on it. it is in beautiful shape but it just started to leak a little oil.. it is not losing large quantities, just a few drops every now and then on the floor of the garage. I took in to the shop and they said it was either the oil pan or the rear main seal and a seal by the timing belt is seaping.
my question is: do the oil leak addatives work? is there any risk involved in trying it? I am not sure the car is worth dumping 15-1700 into for a leak that can be monitored.
Look for any product containing the word "miracle" on the label. While at the parts store also pick up some belt dressing to compliment the experience.
I have never personally had any luck with them and would not put much trust in them at best. At best they are just a band aid anyway. If it is a very small drip or leak, I would throw a piece of cardboard down on the garage floor and let it drip a little.
I have had decent luck with the car-potions slowing down minor to moderate leaks in several of my cars engines.
A couple of drops, very minor, doubt it will fully stop it.
I have never had any problems with any of the car-potions.....except for the radiator leak-stop, that stuff usually causes more problems than it fixes.
You'll probably get all kinds of answers here. The above, for an example ATP 205 is a 100% DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOETHYL ETHER. DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOETHYL ETHER is nothing more than a solvent. Solvents work by stripping lubrication. Wanna damage and already worn engine? Here's the stuff to do it with. There's zero in the bottle to aid leaky seals, it's a cleaner only and not necessarily a good one. NEVER use any engine flush that is a solvent. There is one engine additive on the market that is a lanolin ester based product. The Lanolin esters are used by the motor oil makers to make synthetic oils compatible with current manufactured seals in engines. Otherwise syntheitc oils do nothing for the seals and leaks occur. The product is called Auto-Rx. The major downside is cost at $28.00 for a 12qz bottle. It works as advertized and is also a gentle cleaner, especially on tired ring packs. If you go to their website, don't bother with the advertising BS. It works on tired seals and is a gentle cleaner- that's all. It won't make you win the lottery and it won't keep yer teenage daughter from getting pregnant. But considering most of the High Mileage oils have more seal swell agents in the mix, I would just have the oil changed to a High Mileage oil and see where it goes. There is no magic in a bottle to make a worn engine new. But if it's small leaks that are due to currently low mileage being put on it, sits alot, or has missed an oil change or two, Auto-RX or High Mileage oils can certainly help. The Pennzoil High Mileage would be my recommendation.
You'll probably get all kinds of answers here. The above, for an example ATP 205 is a 100% DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOETHYL ETHER. DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOETHYL ETHER is nothing more than a solvent. Solvents work by stripping lubrication. Wanna damage and already worn engine? Here's the stuff to do it with. There's zero in the bottle to aid leaky seals, it's a cleaner only and not necessarily a good one. NEVER use any engine flush that is a solvent. There is one engine additive on the market that is a lanolin ester based product. The Lanolin esters are used by the motor oil makers to make synthetic oils compatible with current manufactured seals in engines. Otherwise syntheitc oils do nothing for the seals and leaks occur. The product is called Auto-Rx. The major downside is cost at $28.00 for a 12qz bottle. It works as advertized and is also a gentle cleaner, especially on tired ring packs. If you go to their website, don't bother with the advertising BS. It works on tired seals and is a gentle cleaner- that's all. It won't make you win the lottery and it won't keep yer teenage daughter from getting pregnant. But considering most of the High Mileage oils have more seal swell agents in the mix, I would just have the oil changed to a High Mileage oil and see where it goes. There is no magic in a bottle to make a worn engine new. But if it's small leaks that are due to currently low mileage being put on it, sits alot, or has missed an oil change or two, Auto-RX or High Mileage oils can certainly help. The Pennzoil High Mileage would be my recommendation.
Thanks you Mr. Science. This stuff works. Plain and simple.
Try going around and tightening the oil pan bolts and timing chain cover bolts. Sometimes it's just loose bolts. You can always pressure wash the oil stain area and. Take some baby powder and sprinkle it on the area. Look at it a few hours/day later. The baby powder soaks up the oil and tells you where the leak is coming from.
There is actual spray stuff called leak trace you can buy but I've used baby powder to find leaks.
Thanks you Mr. Science. This stuff works. Plain and simple.
The additive makers make these placebos to separate the fool from their money. There's ZERO in the formulation to help seals. By the data sheet at ATP. Inc, it is 100% Glycol as I noted. Pretty hard for a solvent to do anything for seals except strip lubrication from them. There are extremely few additives of any kind worth the plastic that's in the bottle. Most engine additives are solvents, most gasoline additives are kerosene but folks will swear by them. Like a statement attributed to P T Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute".
Try going around and tightening the oil pan bolts and timing chain cover bolts. Sometimes it's just loose bolts.
This SUV uses a timing belt, not a timing chain. A leak from under the timing belt cover is a camshaft or crankshaft seal problem.
Don in Austin
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