164 K miles on my Envoy. Still running well so am trying to hold off on pulling the transmission until I need to (when it's time for a transmission). Has anyone here tried any of the "Seal Swell" additives? If so did they work and any recommendations? Thanks, c good
Slight oil leak from Rear Main Seal (RMS)
- Thread starter c good
- Start date
IllogicTC
Member
- Dec 30, 2013
- 3,452
From what I understand, some swell additives are much better than others. It should be noted that engine oil is generally formulated with some amount of seal swell agents already in the jug - there's a target swell to hit, which is specified by the manufacturer in designing an engine and as I understand it the target is generally 12%.
Excessive swelling may end up causing the material to become rather soft, perhaps too soft, or may cause excess friction in some seals (such as the ones on the crankshaft), which is fairly counter-intuitive. Just something to keep in mind. But if done right, it may help to recondition the seal a bit. Oddly, engine sludge is a killer on seals. It's apparently polarized and the chemical make-up really plays bad with seals. If you have any sludge, you may have bigger issues.
Really, rather than hob-knobbing and trying to get out of doing some work, it'd probably be best just to do the seal and be done with it. You know how band-aids don't fix anything, they just cover it up? Trying to long-haul extra swelling agents is probably the band-aid fix in this, except this wound will never heal. It'll just be there. Costing you more money in the long run.
Pulling the transmission is a good bit of work. And that's before you even get to the real problem! But it also gives a great opportunity to do a replace on a lot more fluid than what comes in just the pan. The pan gives you 5 quarts. The whole system I believe holds 15.
Check out Bob Is The Oil Guy. Beautiful forum full of all kinds of oil and oil-related information on this kind of stuff.
Excessive swelling may end up causing the material to become rather soft, perhaps too soft, or may cause excess friction in some seals (such as the ones on the crankshaft), which is fairly counter-intuitive. Just something to keep in mind. But if done right, it may help to recondition the seal a bit. Oddly, engine sludge is a killer on seals. It's apparently polarized and the chemical make-up really plays bad with seals. If you have any sludge, you may have bigger issues.
Really, rather than hob-knobbing and trying to get out of doing some work, it'd probably be best just to do the seal and be done with it. You know how band-aids don't fix anything, they just cover it up? Trying to long-haul extra swelling agents is probably the band-aid fix in this, except this wound will never heal. It'll just be there. Costing you more money in the long run.
Pulling the transmission is a good bit of work. And that's before you even get to the real problem! But it also gives a great opportunity to do a replace on a lot more fluid than what comes in just the pan. The pan gives you 5 quarts. The whole system I believe holds 15.
Check out Bob Is The Oil Guy. Beautiful forum full of all kinds of oil and oil-related information on this kind of stuff.