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Stop Leak for Engine Oil

By Ben Mester

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Published: 22Oct2010
Word count: 649
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A good automotive tip for older engines is to try some engine oil stop leak. This is especially true in certain states. States like California, where I live, have very strict emissions laws, and oil leaking into the fuel mixture for combustion can definitely cause a car to fail a smog test. Stop leak for engines isn't really similar to stop leak for things like tires and radiators, as you'll see if you keep reading. In all cars, over time, there is natural wear and tear to the seals that keep the liquids and gasses in place. Generally speaking, a person can just replace the leaking component for something new. Like when a tire gets damaged, often times its easier just to get a new tire, or a new set of tires than to mess with goopy liquids to seal the leak. With engines, however, changing the components that leak isn't a very simple task. That's where engine oil stop leak is very effective.

Inside your engine, there are moving metal parts, such as pistons. When these metal parts move against one another, they cause friction, grinding, and heat. That's where motor oil comes in. Motor oil provides lubrication for these metal parts to move against one another without causing excess heat or damage to the interior of the motor. There are seals within the motor and gasket that keep the oil confined to where it's supposed to be. The problem is, these seals wear out over time, and oil begins to seep into places it's not supposed to be. When this happens, it usually doesn't cause any major problems, but generally causes a slow oil leak, and very smokey combustion. If you've ever driven behind an old car that has dark smoke coming out of its tail pipe, it most likely has leaky oil seals that are letting oil into the fuel mixture which is then burned and pushed out of the exhaust. Engine oil stop leak works by treating the seals that keep the oil in place. They soften the rubber and cause it to expand, closing up tiny cracks and spaces where the oil can sneak through.

It's pretty easy to tell if you need engine oil stop leak. If you have a puddle of oil beneath your car but don't have any smoke or odors of burnt oil, then you probably don't need stop leak. What you probably have is either a ding in your oil pan, a loose oil filter, or a bad drain plug. Even so, engine oil stop leak won't hurt your engine at all, and may in fact keep your seals alive longer. So just in case, it's not a bad idea to use. As cars age, mechanics generally recommend a stickier form of motor oil anyway, something more viscous. New cars generally get 5w-30, or 10w-30 oil with their oil changes, either fully synthetic or partially synthetic. In colder climates, sometimes cars operate on 0w-30 oil that still flows well in cold conditions. Once cars start to age, the viscosity of the oil generally goes up. In older cars, the oil viscosity starts to go up. Sometimes single weight oil is used, such as single weight 20, 30, 40, even 50, but these are no longer used in today's engines.

Why is this important? If your car's engine is getting high in miles, you may want to first switch to a higher viscosity oil. If you've been using 5w-30 oil in your oil changes, switch to 10w-30, and so forth. The next time you go for an oil change, tell your mechanic that you're worried about a potential oil leak and were wanting to switch to a slightly heavier oil. Even if you aren't yet experiencing an oil leak, it's good to be proactive. If you have well over 100,000 miles on your car, think about going up to the next higher viscosity of oil.

I hope you found some good information about engine oil stop leak. For more automotive tips, read my article on fuel injector cleaner.

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