Crankshaft Oil Seal leak

[BGD]

Hi Chaps

 

........I say Chaps 'cos here's a Boy-type question (not a fluffy kitten or baking recipe in sight)..........

 

Upon returning from our recent 19 nights trundle up to and around the Langedoc and Dordogne regions of France, I observed that our venerable 1992 Autostar A-class MH, on a Peugeot J5 2.5 turbo-diesel chassis/engine base, is dripping a bit of oil.

Nothing major, but it's coming from the the crankshaft pulleywheel side of the engine at the bottom, so it looks as though the crankshaft oil seal is weeping. It never used to.

Engine's done about 120,000 kms, so not Starship mileage.

 

I had recently changed the oil & filter (and gearbox oil too) before the trip, and had shoved in semi-synthetic 10w40 oil as it was to hand. On reflection, I think I'd have been better putting in the old faithful (and more viscus)) 20w50 mineral oil that I'm sure the beast will have been much more used to.

 

The "weep" is not substantial, just a bit of oil thrown around under the engine/drive shaft, and some drops on the ground.

I'm certainly not going to go to the hassle and expanse of changing the oil seal unless the weep turns into a flood in the months/years ahead............so, I'm thinking of changing back to thicker 20x50 oil, and adding a bottle of Wynn's "stop leak" to stop/reduce the bottom-end weep.

 

 

 

Question: has anyone used any of the "stop oil leaks" type oil additive products such as Wynn's, and are they any good on old diesel engines with weepy oil seals?

 

 

[hallii]

I used "Stop Leaks" on an old Land Rover engine, (petrol) it works for a while but after about 5000 miles the leaks came back. Worth a try?

 

You might be better off putting 20/50 oil back in and a can of STP, the synthetics are a bit thin for old engines unless they are in tip top condition.

 

Hallii

[Basil]

Only problem is if the oil is being 'thrown around a bit' if it should get onto the Cambelt and contaminate that, you may be wishing that you had changed the seal!

 

Bas

[BGD]

I think I'll stick 20/50 mineral oil back in, and add a bottle of the Wynn's Stop-Leak, and see if that stops/minimises the weeping crankshaft oil seal..........

[euroserv]

We are still using 10W40 mineral oil in our older (pre 2005) Ducato vans, and before that used 15W40. I now have enough data gathered to catagorically say that the incidence of oil leaks from front and more commonly rear oil seals has increased significantly with the successively 'thinner' oils. The later 2.8's have had awful problems with oil seals and they are on 5W40 Synthetic as directed by the maker.

 

Furthermore I have seen no evidence whatsoever that engines that have run on the more advanced oils have suffered any less wear or done more miles without incidents.

 

Interestingly NONE of the X250 vans that we have (2.3 and 3.0) have had any oil leaks at all and that is using 5W40 synthetic so they seem to have delivered on their promise of preventing leaks with better design. Some of the 2.3's have done over 180,000 miles!

 

My advice would be to use 15W40 in any Fiat/Peugeot engine that does not specifically NEED a semi synthetic and those are only Euro4 engines. Ford engines call for a rather weird 5W30 since 2000 and you would be best to stick with that.

 

Nick

[BGD]

Thanks for that Nick.

 

Down here in Spiccyland, it seems to still be 20/50 that's still the norm for mineral oil for older engines rather than anything thinner....prob because ambient temperatures are somewhat higher than in Norther Europe?