oil leak after switching to Amsoil
chris023
03-06-2005, 11:35 AM
last week I made the change to Amsoil sytnthetic 5W-20 and per their recommendations I used their engine flush for 15 min first. 01 Accord V6 80k miles. Now I've got a oil leak where the engine and tranny come together. 1/4-1/2 qt in 1 week. anyone ever encounter this problem when switching to full synthetic. I've never got a leak when switching previous cars.
lorunner
03-06-2005, 06:37 PM
Sounds like its just a coincidence.
chris023
03-06-2005, 09:26 PM
some friends just told me it's not uncommon for a car with high miles to spring a leak when switching to synthetic. didn't think 80k miles was much for a Honda engine, CRX had 180k when I sold it.
ProMan
03-06-2005, 10:48 PM
Sounds like the rear main seal. It shouldn't happen that early. But I don't think it has anything to do with the oil.
BullShifter
03-07-2005, 12:25 AM
That's not the first time I've heard of that happening. The leak was probably already there clogged by dirt and debris. The flush cleaned it all away creating a larger leak with very slippery oil that will escape from the smallest of gaps.
The easiest way to slow down the leak would be to change the oil using a "high mileage" blend. They swell up seals. If your loosing that much earl it may not solve the issue but cheaper than replacing seals or gaskets
The easiest way to slow down the leak would be to change the oil using a "high mileage" blend. They swell up seals. If your loosing that much earl it may not solve the issue but cheaper than replacing seals or gaskets
jeffcoslacker
03-07-2005, 11:41 AM
If anything the flush did it, not the oil. If someone is reccomending flushes before syn use (totally unneeded), THAT would account for the persistant rumor that syn causes leaks. It doesn't.
Motor flushes are primarily kerosene, which has no place in your crankcase unless you've serious blockage going on. It is hard on rubber and plastic parts (i.e. seals).
Motor flushes are primarily kerosene, which has no place in your crankcase unless you've serious blockage going on. It is hard on rubber and plastic parts (i.e. seals).
chris023
03-08-2005, 06:02 PM
Amsoil's tech support said that there was probably a leak there before, but their better oil just unclogged the leak. They claimed their oil also cleans the engine and it would have discovered the leak as well. They recommended I leave the leak alone and it might fix itself, but to keep them posted. I thought about going back to the 5W20 Penzoil dino oil I was running to see if it still leaks.
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
I noticed there's a service bulletin for the V6 Accord for an oil leak. I called and it's a leak at the front, middle, and/or rear of the engine. How do these service bulletins work? Do they treat them as a recall and not charge you for their defective product?
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
I noticed there's a service bulletin for the V6 Accord for an oil leak. I called and it's a leak at the front, middle, and/or rear of the engine. How do these service bulletins work? Do they treat them as a recall and not charge you for their defective product?
jeffcoslacker
03-09-2005, 07:41 AM
Amsoil's tech support said that there was probably a leak there before, but their better oil just unclogged the leak. They claimed their oil also cleans the engine and it would have discovered the leak as well. They recommended I leave the leak alone and it might fix itself, but to keep them posted. I thought about going back to the 5W20 Penzoil dino oil I was running to see if it still leaks.
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
I noticed there's a service bulletin for the V6 Accord for an oil leak. I called and it's a leak at the front, middle, and/or rear of the engine. How do these service bulletins work? Do they treat them as a recall and not charge you for their defective product?
Nope. TSB's are just issued when a particular problem has been showing up often enough to establish that it is due to a part or procedure shortcoming, and makes it easier to diagnose and repair correctly. They can be particularly helpful when a very unusual problem has symptoms that mimic a more common problem, so that the issue can be resolved without several unneccessary repairs before getting it right. For example: I remember on the older Escorts there was an issue with a defective gauge cluster that caused the temp gauge to show readings that seemed consistant with a blocked or airlocked cooling system, when in fact the temp was fine. Many mechanics (including myself :mad: ) replaced thermostats, gauge senders, flushed cooling systems, had radiators cored out, etc., before the TSB was issued and we knew to just check that first before doing any other work. It will save the customer time and money, but is usually not a warrantee situation.
It never hurts to ask, however. An example of this: Tens of thousands of GM FWD cars built in the 80's-early 90's had issues with rack and pinion assembly defects that caused the pressure seals to detiriorate, showing up first as a "bind" when turning one direction for the first time after the car had sat all night. It would immediately start working correctly, so most people ignored it until it got to the point that it would happen randomly during normal operation, then they'd get alarmed and have it looked at.
The problem was this. It was so common that virtually every car they built with that rack was going to have this problem at some point. But it usually occured long after the car was out of warrantee, so they were in no big rush to draw attention to it, and it was not a recall situation. What they ended up doing was issuing a TSB that mandated that if any of the affected vehicles was brought into the dealer with a complaint of this problem, and had under 50,000 miles on it, the rack was to be replaced at no charge to the customer. The first signs of the problem would occur around that mileage, but it was rare that it was made note of and correctly diagnosed before the cut-off mileage. It felt exactly like what you'd expect from a power steering belt that slipped momentarily when cold, and lots of people had belts replaced or other P/S repairs done with no improvement.
As soon as I became aware of the problem, I'd have the customer leave the car overnight so I could start it and turn the wheel first thing in the morning and verify the problem, then send them straight over to the dealer to get it fixed free. GM probably has a hitman looking for me, I sent probably a hundred people or more to them for repair on this item :naughty:
But it never hurts to ask, and sometimes if you are good at pointing out a "known bad" condition to the dealer, they may repair it at their own expense, GM dealers call this a good faith adjustment. My '97 Lumina's driver's seat bottom collapsed on one side when the car had about 50,000 miles on it, and after I pointed out that every used Lumina on the lot had the very same problem, they replaced the seat at no cost to me as one of these adjustments. 'Course I've bought three new cars from them in the last five years, so they kinda kiss my ass a little :lol:
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
I noticed there's a service bulletin for the V6 Accord for an oil leak. I called and it's a leak at the front, middle, and/or rear of the engine. How do these service bulletins work? Do they treat them as a recall and not charge you for their defective product?
Nope. TSB's are just issued when a particular problem has been showing up often enough to establish that it is due to a part or procedure shortcoming, and makes it easier to diagnose and repair correctly. They can be particularly helpful when a very unusual problem has symptoms that mimic a more common problem, so that the issue can be resolved without several unneccessary repairs before getting it right. For example: I remember on the older Escorts there was an issue with a defective gauge cluster that caused the temp gauge to show readings that seemed consistant with a blocked or airlocked cooling system, when in fact the temp was fine. Many mechanics (including myself :mad: ) replaced thermostats, gauge senders, flushed cooling systems, had radiators cored out, etc., before the TSB was issued and we knew to just check that first before doing any other work. It will save the customer time and money, but is usually not a warrantee situation.
It never hurts to ask, however. An example of this: Tens of thousands of GM FWD cars built in the 80's-early 90's had issues with rack and pinion assembly defects that caused the pressure seals to detiriorate, showing up first as a "bind" when turning one direction for the first time after the car had sat all night. It would immediately start working correctly, so most people ignored it until it got to the point that it would happen randomly during normal operation, then they'd get alarmed and have it looked at.
The problem was this. It was so common that virtually every car they built with that rack was going to have this problem at some point. But it usually occured long after the car was out of warrantee, so they were in no big rush to draw attention to it, and it was not a recall situation. What they ended up doing was issuing a TSB that mandated that if any of the affected vehicles was brought into the dealer with a complaint of this problem, and had under 50,000 miles on it, the rack was to be replaced at no charge to the customer. The first signs of the problem would occur around that mileage, but it was rare that it was made note of and correctly diagnosed before the cut-off mileage. It felt exactly like what you'd expect from a power steering belt that slipped momentarily when cold, and lots of people had belts replaced or other P/S repairs done with no improvement.
As soon as I became aware of the problem, I'd have the customer leave the car overnight so I could start it and turn the wheel first thing in the morning and verify the problem, then send them straight over to the dealer to get it fixed free. GM probably has a hitman looking for me, I sent probably a hundred people or more to them for repair on this item :naughty:
But it never hurts to ask, and sometimes if you are good at pointing out a "known bad" condition to the dealer, they may repair it at their own expense, GM dealers call this a good faith adjustment. My '97 Lumina's driver's seat bottom collapsed on one side when the car had about 50,000 miles on it, and after I pointed out that every used Lumina on the lot had the very same problem, they replaced the seat at no cost to me as one of these adjustments. 'Course I've bought three new cars from them in the last five years, so they kinda kiss my ass a little :lol:
BullShifter
03-09-2005, 09:26 AM
Amsoil's tech support said that there was probably a leak there before, but their better oil just unclogged the leak. They claimed their oil also cleans the engine and it would have discovered the leak as well. They recommended I leave the leak alone and it might fix itself, but to keep them posted. I thought about going back to the 5W20 Penzoil dino oil I was running to see if it still leaks.
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
That's what I said . . . . . .
kind of pisses me off, never saw a drop of oil under there before and I changed the oil every 3k miles before
That's what I said . . . . . .
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