Setright Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Hi all, quick commercial break: My EJ20 was beginning to leak past some of the rubber seals, in particular the spark plug o-rings. At an oil change I decided to try Mobil1 Hi Mileage 0W-40 instead of my usual 5W-50. Apparently the Hi Mileage oil contains extra seal conditioners to prevent leaks. 6000 miles later and I can say that it really, really works! I have switched back to the 5W-50 again, I hope the HiMileage has a lasting effect. I don't want to run it constantly, because my spark plugs had some ash deposits on them, and they are usually clean. I think the extra additives in the Hi Mileage stuff is responsible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattocs Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 That is good to know. I always assumed anything that claimed to fix an oil leak was some sort of scam. I'll have to try it out next time I discover an oil leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Is the substance used by Mobil in that product available seperately? Would it be compatible with 'normal' oils? good review! Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attym Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I'll try the 5w30, I need an oil change and i have a small leak... I hate bandaids, but if it works, it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 25, 2005 Author Share Posted August 25, 2005 Indeed. I guess there is just some substance that swells the rubber seals. The question is how long it stays in there? Carl: Diesel fuel and brake fluid can do the same trick, but if I pour either of those in my engine I would only idle it for a few minutes and then drain the oil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I finally got the oil changed after 4,600 miles on the 15-50 the other day. The reason I changed it out was extra noise on cold start up. My car burns a bit of oil and I have been topping up with 5-30 Mobil 1 since I have it in stock. I think the mileage and the top ups had lowered the viscosity to the point that the slap was increasing on cold start up. It was still quiet when warmed up, and did not slap on the second start up of the day. I'm not an oil expert but I think I will continue to run the 15-50 high mileage in this car. There seems to be no penalty as gas mileage is about the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Setright, there's a chance that the seals may retract back and maybe leak a little worse than before. Myself, I'd be reluctant to bounce back and forth between the two chemistries for fear of inducing some permanent change/deterioration in the seal material. No facts here really, just a gut thing, y'know. I don't think Mobil 1 Hi-Mileage is available here in the US. We do have a Mobil 1 "EP" available with higher levels of A/W additives. Hi-Mileage might be one of those products that everyone outside of North America gets. EP = extended protection I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I finally got the oil changed after 4,600 miles on the 15-50 the other day. The reason I changed it out was extra noise on cold start up. My car burns a bit of oil and I have been topping up with 5-30 Mobil 1 since I have it in stock. I think the mileage and the top ups had lowered the viscosity to the point that the slap was increasing on cold start up. It was still quiet when warmed up, and did not slap on the second start up of the day.I'm not an oil expert but I think I will continue to run the 15-50 high mileage in this car. There seems to be no penalty as gas mileage is about the same. Cookie, I'd hate to steal the topic but how you you drive your sub? When I started using 5W40 in mine (due to boat towing), there was no MPG difference on hwy but extra bad MPG (in the range 16-18) in city (short distances driving). I am saying extra bad because it was bad even with 5W30: city 18-20, hwy 23-25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddcomp Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 automatic transmission fluid mercon/dexron has the same effect on rubber seals it usually swells them up last i knew .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 to answer your question I drive in the San Francisco Bay area with the Subie. The car does about half city traffic and short hop, balanced with freeway driving. A few times a week I drive into SF to pick my wife up. It is usually about 7pm and traffic can be stop and go, the trip is 24 miles one way. Once I hit SF I usually get slow stop and go for about three miles. On the weekends this is our Safeway, library,shopping, and Home Depot car. It is a couple of miles between each stop, but after the first stop the car is warm. With the mixed use my car gets about 25mpg every time I fill up. It is a 99 Forester with about 118,000 miles. The best tank ever was going through Big Sur at 27.75 mpg which will lieve in my memory forever. When I am on the highway I have never been able to keep my foot out of it to keep from cruiseing 75-80 which does not help my mileage. I kept close track of the mielage for the fist few weeks after the oil change and it looked like I picked up a couple of tenths with the 15-50. Blitz, Mobil 1 high mileage is available at least here in the Bay Area at my friend's Speedy oil change because I got two extra quarts to keep from diluteing this oil. It says high mileage on it which means they think the same way I do.The reason I went to this is that the slap had gotten worse over the last three years and this did quiet the engine. I though it might cut wear and help mileage, but it seems to be too heavy to make mush difference in mileage. I did not expect to get as much difference in piston slap as I did though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Thanks cookie. It sounds like you mostly drive with warmed-up engine. The problem with my wife's driving are short distances on cold engine (3-5 miles each). Subaru engine is big and slow to warm up, even here in South. I guess thicker oil takes a tall on MPG in this situation. I will try german castrol 0W30 (aka SLX) next summer since its viscosity is right between 30 and 40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 We work on combining our trips to keep the engine warm and polloution as low as possible. When I drive to work with the Subie in the winter it gets those two cold trips a day. The trips are 6.7 miles each way from work so most of the time is warm there. In the winter with oxegenated gas, slightly cold weather, and bad traffic I have seen a tank as low as 18 mpg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I had a rear seal leaking in my 97 2.2 at around 100,000 miles, I put the Gold Eagle stop leak in and it stopped leaking and was still not leaking when I replaced the engine at 288,000 miles. I am a big fan of these products that have the chemicals to gently expand the seals. I never had to replace a cam seal in this engine. Subaru replaced one when it was in warranty. I did have to replace the crank seal twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiefan Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Setright, there's a chance that the seals may retract back and maybe leak a little worse than before. Myself, I'd be reluctant to bounce back and forth between the two chemistries for fear of inducing some permanent change/deterioration in the seal material. No facts here really, just a gut thing, y'know. I don't think Mobil 1 Hi-Mileage is available here in the US. We do have a Mobil 1 "EP" available with higher levels of A/W additives. Hi-Mileage might be one of those products that everyone outside of North America gets. EP = extended protection I think? I'm with you blitz. I put Valvoline Max Life 10W40 for 75k mile plus engines in my '93 Impreza. Baaaad idea. It sealed my tiny leaks for a few days, but then the oil seals started leaking like someone had opened the flood gates. I had several people come up to me when I was stopped and tell me politely that they thought my car might be on fire. Everone else just stared. I quickly changed my oil to Castrol GTX 20W50 and haven't switched types yet. Suprisingly, this actually sealed my leaks to a reasonable degree - no more smoking; just maybe a burn oil smell after a long drive. I just check the oil every now and then and add a little when needed. I'm not worried about it. I'll change the seals when I change my timing belt. So it is probably NOT a good idea to use any type of high mileage oils or oil additives. Just my $.02. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I'm with you blitz. I put Valvoline Max Life 10W40 for 75k mile plus engines in my '93 Impreza. Baaaad idea. It sealed my tiny leaks for a few days, but then the oil seals started leaking like someone had opened the flood gates. I had several people come up to me when I was stopped and tell me politely that they thought my car might be on fire. Everone else just stared. I quickly changed my oil to Castrol GTX 20W50 and haven't switched types yet. Suprisingly, this actually sealed my leaks to a reasonable degree - no more smoking; just maybe a burn oil smell after a long drive. I just check the oil every now and then and add a little when needed. I'm not worried about it. I'll change the seals when I change my timing belt. So it is probably NOT a good idea to use any type of high mileage oils or oil additives. Just my $.02. Actually my concern was for going back to a non-swell oil after letting the seals soak up the swell chemistry ...but I guess your expierience actually proved my theory wrong. Oh, well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 witch in the Wizard of Oz, but I intend to keep running this stuff as long as my friends carry it. I have never seen it in an auto parts store, so I am not sure if this is just a test market for the 15-50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiefan Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Actually my concern was for going back to a non-swell oil after letting the seals soak up the swell chemistry ...but I guess your expierience actually proved my theory wrong. Oh, well... Maybe it is Valvoline's specific formula that caused my troubles. The Mobil 1 may actually work, but I would still be afraid to try it. Also, I think my seals are in pretty sad shape. The previous owner was a non-mechanically able person, shown by the oil change sticker from, of all places, Wal-Mart. Yikes! I have a feeling that when the timing belt was changed (I should say if the t-belt was changed - oh well, its non interfearance) that the seals were never replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 which is one of the reasons I got the courage to try a heavy Mobil 1 in the engine. I have not even looked at the oil container for the ingredients since I don't really know enough about oils to tell if any would be a problem. I do suspect that old and hard seals would be much more of an issue. I have broken an edge on an old seal with my fingers to see how hard and brittle it had gotten. Pretty brittle was the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 Cookie, any chance you could snap & post a photo of the front of the 15W-50 Hi-Mileage bottle? It doesn't have to be in focus or anything, I'm just curious as to what the "Hi-Mileage" package looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfcrane Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 If Mobil 1 is making a "high mileage" oil, I haven't seen it yet. Others do but none of them except for Valvoline are synthetic like Mobil 1. Are you sure you haven't mixed up the names or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 of the car. Once again my memory is fallible. The container says extended service not high mileage. My oil dealer told me it was for high mileage cars and I think that's what screwed me up. My seals are safe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosDiosDeVerde86 Posted August 29, 2005 Share Posted August 29, 2005 Hi all, quick commercial break: My EJ20 was beginning to leak past some of the rubber seals, in particular the spark plug o-rings. At an oil change I decided to try Mobil1 Hi Mileage 0W-40 instead of my usual 5W-50. Apparently the Hi Mileage oil contains extra seal conditioners to prevent leaks. 6000 miles later and I can say that it really, really works! I have switched back to the 5W-50 again, I hope the HiMileage has a lasting effect. I don't want to run it constantly, because my spark plugs had some ash deposits on them, and they are usually clean. I think the extra additives in the Hi Mileage stuff is responsible. if it plugs up the leaks, what else is it pluggin up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted August 29, 2005 Author Share Posted August 29, 2005 It's not full of bits that cause blocking. It has just expanded/swelled the rubber it has contacted. The leaks were minor, not the sort an older engine would be making. That would require new seals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbianchi Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 I just wana know what in the world are "spark plug o-rings" none of my subees have them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 engines have plugs that go through the valve cover in a tube. The O rings seal the tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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