Synthetic oil change - Now all seals are leaking !!

[Asiarider]

I changed all fluids to synthetic two months ago. Now I went to my stealer and all (and I mean all !!) seals are leaking :'(

What is this synthetic oil doing ?? Eating my seals ??

I remember that some other members of this board had similar problems but can't find the posts anymore.

Will the new seals now hold or shall I change all fluids back to standard. ???

Mike

 

[Doc]

I've heard that this is sometimes a common occurance when going with synthetics in a high milage motor. Synthetics are odviously less 'sticky' and will flow past seals easier.

The cheapest and easiest fix is to go back to conventional motor/diff/tranny fluids.

If it continues to leak after that, then you can address the larger problem.

 

[MoJ]

Mike -
I've been holding off on switching to synthetics for that reason. Maybe it's just a myth that they cause leaks in higher mileage vehicles, don't know. But, nothing on my 94 w/100k leaks now (knock on wood 3x) so I'm not going to chance it. Service records show it's always had Toyota motor oil (made by Mobile IIRC?) so that's what I've stuck with. Who knows.

 

[Asiarider]

High mileage vehicles ??? I don't think that my 52K miles count in that categorie. I just think that my PO did nothing to maintain the truck. Just drove it short distances and cared little about oil and seals. So when I swapped oil the old seals died slowly away. Leakage isn't much but enough to get worried. I will fix the seals on Monday and then we will see what happened. I won't switch back to other oil because the egine runs very smooth, the tranny shifts better and in general the truck handles nicely.

Yesterday a drunken driver hit my truck by reversing after he almost killed a motorbike rider. He just put in the reverse and ended in my bull bar. His back was completely smashed but my truck had only a few scratches on the plastic that covers my bull bar. I know if I would had an ARB then his car would have been destroyed beyond repair. I love my truck : The landcruiser is a real tank

Mike

 

[Doc]

Maybe instead of high milage the wording should be 'high wear'.

 

[Beowulf]

Mikey,
What brand and specification did you switch to?

You better hope it's not leaking from *all* seals as that would cost an incredible amount of $$$$ to fix. There are a lot of O-rings, FIPG, and seals in the rig.

-B-

 

[Asiarider]

[quote author=Doc link=board=2;threadid=17473;start=msg169004#msg169004 date=1086360456]
Maybe instead of high milage the wording should be 'high wear'.
[/quote]

Yes, that is correct. All the lower mileage vehicles were used in town traffic, short distances, stop and go. Perhaps long time just sitting in a driveyard or garage. All this will add up to more wear than a LC that was used on freeways or nice long distance journeys and serviced well by the PO. In the low mileage vehicles you will find other problems with the coolant system (radiator sludge), etc. :-\

It is nice to have on LC with low mileage but be aware of some nice repairs especially if you don't know the PO and the records of maintenance. :'(

But the rest is almost brandnew

Mike

 

[Asiarider]

[quote author=Beowulf link=board=2;threadid=17473;start=msg169010#msg169010 date=1086361029]


Mikey,
What brand and specification did you switch to?

You better hope it's not leaking from *all* seals as that would cost an incredible amount of $$$$ to fix. There are a lot of O-rings, FIPG, and seals in the rig.

-B-
[/quote]

No, not really all seals but several places. Enough to make me annoyed. I switched to TOTAL Quartz 9000 and here in the tropical climate we use 15w-50.

I just believe that it is luck of maintenance of my PO and after the fix on Monday it will be okay.

Mike(y)

 

[e9999]

as for me, I'll take Cary's info into account and just use good Dino with more frequent changes. Got the impression that I may end up the same or better wearwise but less $$$. And gives me a good excuse to go under the truck...
E

 

[landtoy80]

Try Rotella T syn. My pan leak went away.

The syn oil cleans out your crud from the motor and seals. The seals were covered with crud and the seals dried out. When the crud was washed away with the syn oil, you dry seals let the oil leak.

I don't know if M1 has a seal conditioner but Rotella T syn must have as my pan leak stopped leaking after several months along. The timing chain cover stopped leaking too.

 

[semlin]

I had a seepage in my rear main and also somewhere up front (crank?) when I bought it. Switching to mobil 1 a little over a year ago actually seems to have reduced the seepage, especially at the front. My oil pan is dry now and I no longer get oil accumulating on the sway bar under the rear main.

 

[cary]

[quote author=Asiarider link=board=2;threadid=17473;start=msg169012#msg169012 date=1086361432]
No, not really all seals but several places. Enough to make me annoyed. I switched to TOTAL Quartz 9000 and here in the tropical climate we use 15w-50.

I just believe that it is luck of maintenance of my PO and after the fix on Monday it will be okay.

Mike(y)
[/quote]

Never heard of Total Quartz, but is it possible that it is a Group IV oil without seal swellers? I would suggest you Try Mobil 1 and see if that helps. If not, Redline (if it is available) is a group V ester base which naturally causes seals to swell.

Cary

 

[Tooth Fairy]

My mom's LX450 just started leaking after she had the oil changed at the stealership and I wonder if they sed some kind of a synth oil?

Nothing leaked until they told her it was going to.

At least I get to fix it. :

 

[landtank]

Mike maybe you overheated that pig when you lost your radiator and it's not the oil at all but seals failing form that.

 

[Asiarider]

[quote author=landtank link=board=2;threadid=17473;start=msg169151#msg169151 date=1086374522]
Mike maybe you overheated that pig when you lost your radiator and it's not the oil at all but seals failing form that.
[/quote]

Rick,

I thought about that too. We will find out on Monday and soon after if the seals will hold and if it was a problem with the oil. I will post the results.

Mike