If i drive my SS for a long time say an hour and then park it in the garage, it doesnt leak. Its when it sits it starts to drip say after a few days its the size of a nickle. My OPSU seems ok but how do i know for sure what is leaking?

 

Anybody?

 

What oil you running?

 

10W-30 Pennzoil Ultra

 

Pull the intake and check it.

 

Ill try to use logic,

rear main seals usually leak when the engine is running, and especially just after it shut off. So that doesn't sound like your problem.

On the other hand, when the motor is shut off, the oil level gradually rises over time. It can rise quite a lot if you let the engine sit for days. Once the oil level gets high enough, it might start leaking from an oil pan seal (or any other plug/port where the oil level reach).

So to diagnose this further, If I had the luxury of time, I would try parking the car for a long time (to force it to leak) with the front end raised (pushing all the oil away from the front of the engine) and see if it still leaks. Then try the same thing with the rear end raised. You should be able to find the drip of oil coming from somewhere.

make sure you clean the engine very well before letting it drip, or you wont be able to tell which drip is the new drip.

 

If you can confirm its your rear main, change to pennzoil high mileage. 10 bucks says the leak completely quits!

 

My 5.3 leaks when I use synthetic.

And it stops leaking when I do not.

However, synthetic oil has enough advantages for me that I will be changing the rear main seal as soon as the motor proves it is worth putting back in. Also I still use synthetic. I'd rather have a typical leaking chevy and synthetic oil in the engine.

 

Pennzoil high mileage 10W-30?

 

Yes.......Platinum makes NEW seals leak. No bullshit.

 

non synthetic?

 

Its a syn blend i believe.

 

Think of how small something has to be to provide a film of lubrication for a spinning metal parts like crankshaft journals. Imagine it squeezing between the crank and bearing.

Now, in bottle A I have oil that won't leak from your rear main because its so much larger than whats in bottle B. Why would you use whats in bottle A!

size matters! properties matter! I'd rather have synthetic oil leaking from my rear main than having standard oil go through a turbocharger.

 

I have a car that does the same thing, its the front main seal on mine.. doesn't leak while the crank spins but after you shut it down it drips like 4 times.. Annoying..

 

Thats not how it works at all fella. God you're clueless.

 

The size of the molecule and its properties are indeed factors, synthetic really is better and should be used if possible.


Not sure why anyone would argue against this (pretty obvious) but maybe you just misunderstood...

Here are some precious courses "I would take" if I wanted to learn more about the chemistry, bio, physical and environmental aspect of natural components:
Chemistry 1 & 2
Chemistry Lab 1 & 2
Organic chem 1 & 2
Organic chem Lab 1 & 2
Physical chem & Lab
Molecular and cell biology
Adv cell physiology
Adv Biotechnology
Inorganic chem & Lab
Biological Science 1 & 2 w/ Lab
Environmental chem
Biochem 1 & 2
Adv Biochem
Instrumentation

Study these (and similar) subjects, it should give a fair idea of how molecules interact with the environment

 

Because you need all that to understand why a fully synthetic oil makes and old *** rear main seal leak over a conventional oil. Not one (or all) of those courses, if completed, would answer that question. That's the difference between learning in the library and learning in the garage.

 

orly. Those courses say to me that the uniformity and physical size of synthetic oil molecules are why it fits between the space of the dry/old rear main and the crankshaft.
Not sure how you would see this in a garage (which btw I never had I always work outside in the wind, sun, rain so it was even harder)

Is there some other reason of which I am unaware that is outside the scope of education about oil on a molecular level that allows it to squeeze between a space?
not sure if rhetoric yet....

 

Im sorry you read a book and now dont understand how seals work. Especially old ones. During normal operation, and the inner piece (whatever it may be) could be spinning at 1000s of rpms, while the seal is holding on for dear life, dont you think it has some play and movement? And you're talking about oil on a molecular level. Your knowledge while correct isnt practical! Also remember, it isnt just oil, its oil PLUS. What else is in it? additives.....detergents.....keep thinking.....it all may make sense one day.

 

Hmm I think you might be missing the point which came in the form of a joke that I guess you missed. Smaller, more uniform molecules fit into smaller spaces, that is why they leak when other molecules do not. Even when we "additive" detergents to the oil, the oil is still the same size. The detergent does not change the size or uniformity of the oil molecules and is in fact there to provide protection from that exact problem, by attaching to molecules that it is designed to hold on to thus taking them "out of solution" (some will "chelate" but thats different) and less likely to interact in general, so it can be drained out with the oil next oil change. Now, there are other molecules which may influence the size or shape character of oil molecules, including modifications to the oil backbone hydrocarbon structure which help it achieve certain improved viscosity at temperatures where it usually wouldn't be so viscous, so called "viscosity improvers".

Both synthetic and non-synthetic oils have those things, though. And yet synthetic still leaks while another non-synthetic does not. It is the physical size of the oil molecule. We know they are both similar function, hydrophobic entities. One form of hydrophobic interaction from a synthetic oil is not going to interact differently with the same seal that non-synthetic oil previously interacted with. They collide the same with similar tenacity. One is just smaller.

Ok so you now you understand they are smaller but you still do not see. It is a chain, not just a single round thing but like a branch or sticks, bundled together. Imagine we bunched up a bunch of sticks. The non-synthetic sticks are more varied, they are frazzled. They might make a prickly "ball" bundle of oddly shapen products. The synthetic "sticks" are different: they pack well into spaces, they are less "frazzled" in appearance when bunched up. Thus they flow together into smaller spaces with more ease. This is good for an engine, any engine. This was the point of my original post.