Oil Leak Sealer
The gasket of my 96 Ford Taurus had been replaced twice in 1998 and 2001, respectively, due to oil leak. Now an oil leak happened again. I am just about to sent it to garage when I saw a kind of sealer yesterday, called CD-2 Heavy Duty Sealer (Engine oil stop leak). This is first time I am aware of its exist. I would like to know if anybody has experience of using this kind of stuff. Will it hurt engine? Should I try it first before have the gasket replaced again? Thanks in advance for any advice. Don't bother There is no such thing as miracle in a can. What gasket and engine are you talking about? Maybe you have a clogged or bad PCV thats blowing out the gasket? I just recently discovered these so called oil leak stopper products. With so many snake oil products on the market today, I had to stop and think if I had seen this oil leak stuff before. I have decided that I have never seen an oil leak 'stopper' before. Of course I'm not talking about Lucus, Rislone, STP and thick oil products that have been around forever. I barely noticed the product, but I have an extremely vague memory of the back of the bottle referring to tiny small, slow seeping oil, rather than a typical oil leak or drip. In other words, the small print on the back negates the large label on the front. I also do not recommend these kinds of additives. If this oil stop leak product is as new as I think it is, then a testimonial, good or bad, is not likely to be forthcoming. Stop leak additives are a waste of money and can cause further damage. They thicken the oil quite a bit and contain an additive that swells rubber seals and makes them soft. The problem is that these seals will deteriorate like this, over time, and you will wind up with more leaks than you started off with. Not to mention that your oil viscosity is not what it should be when you add this stuff. Cheese said it well. If you have a torn seal or any kind of gasket leak, it will be useless. Have you checked your PCV system. There's probably a reason for these repeated oil leak problems. They can come from any number of gaskets or seals. Are the same ones failing or are you repairing different leaks. It sounds sorta like the old used car lot trick by adding a tablespoon of brake fluid to a leaking or slipping tranny. It swells the seals and makes it APPEAR to function properly. Then in a few months you have worse leaks than was there before. As many have said here.... NO such thing as a miracle cure in a can. Proper maintenance is the key to longevity in anything. Billy Larry said it best though.... If you would post the pertinent info maybe someone here can help you figure out what is causing this. Thanks all your advices. Some clarifications: The gasket that was replaced twice is an engine oil pan gasket. Both works were done at Ford dealerships. The leak is not heavy, probably several drops each time when parking at a place. I have not had the car checked (but will later), just guess it might be a gasket problem again. It seems that I should not use that sealer for the leak. I am just wondering if it is a design issue of 96 Taurus since Ford re-modeled Taurus at that year. Anyone out there have similar problem with 96 Ford Taurus? BTW, what is PCV system? Thanks again for responses. PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation. On OLD cars (pre 1969 i think) the crankcase was vented with a tube and all the oil and normal blow by gases from combustion floated into the atmosphere (yuck!) so now on cars, there is what's called a PCV valve and some tubing. Basically what this system does is it pushes the blow by and oil vapours back into the intake to be reburned, it is a cycle. If a tube gets clogged or if the valve gets stuck closed, the pressure that pushes the contaminated air now just builds up and eventually blows out a seal. Think of the piston moving up and down, when the piston moves up, a vacuum is created in the crankcase, a one-way valve allows fresh air into it. On the down-stroke, the pressure increases (like blowing up a balloon) this pressure normally drives some air through the PCV system back into the intake, but if the PCV tubes or valve is clogged/stuck, the high pressure air goes nowhere. However, after time, this high pressure-low pressure-high pressure etc stresses the oil seals (and perhaps other things) to the point of failure. Hopefully someone can verify this as I am not a pro! that was a pretty good explanation kurt, except for one thing. on most cars, the pcv valve has intake manifold vacuum behind it, and it sucks the fumes(blow by, and all) from the crankcase. the other hose, usually behind the air filter somewhere and connected also to the valve cover, is the 'make up' air. it allows fresh (filtered) air to replenish the air sucked out of the crankcase by the pcv. on one extreme, i've seen the 'make up' air hose clogged, and the pcv system produced such a vacuum in the engine, that the engine seals were squealing (from the vacuum behind them) on the other extreme, when the pcv clogs, i've seen rear main seals (and others) blown right out of their holders, from the pressure built up behind them. the pcv valve is basically a controlled vacuum leak, sucking things out of the engine that can cause harm and burning them harmlessly. yuanxd: my cousin had a similiar taurus, (of an unknown year, probably not a 96 or newer though) she came to me one saturday with a bad oil leak right onto the cat converter, which runs right under the oil pan (a fire waiting to happen). the rubber pan gasket was blown out and oil was spraying onto the cat. being late on a saturday, and no stores or dealers open, i did the next best thing. took out the flimsy gasket, put a decent bead of silicone around the entire pan rail, let it dry for an hour, then ran it----no leaks ever again. it was better than a gasket. most engines and transmissions don't use gaskets anymore, just plain silicone. until the day she sold it, it never leaked. FYI Thank you Mike and KurtDixon for your info.
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