heavier weight oil, good idea? Options

[celicamike]

Hey guys, I've been living with a small oil leak for a while now and I want to go ahead and switch to 10w-40 to see if I can minimize leakage. What I want to know is will this work? and more importantly, could this cause me any problems?

[Redline08]

My lifters tap really really bad so i dropped 10w-40 in my 7afe. I hoped it would quiet them down but it made no difference, and as far as i can tell the car runs the same. The only problem i can forsee is a hard start up when it gets cold out, not a real big deal...

As far as fixing your oil leak i really dont know, sorry

This post has been edited by Redline08: Apr 28, 2007 - 5:11 PM

[celicamike]

Yeah, I don't think it could cause any problems, but I wanted to see what you guys think. As far as low temperatures are concerned, I don't think I'll have to worry about that any time soon here in SoCal.

Any one else? I'd like to hear your two cents on this.

[playr158]

use the specified oil.........this is probably the ghetto-est thing i've ever heard

changing oil weight isn't going to fix your leak...either fix the leak or live with it...but you should be running what is recommended for the car @ temp range you live in

[celicamike]

I don't think this will fix my leak, but I'm hoping it might minimize it. I know the best oil to run is the recommended 10W-30, but what I want to know is will 10W-40 cause any problems? Yes or no?

[mikeismad0408]

i was told to go with 20W-50 since i have a slight leak and im burning oil pretty bad as well.

[mikew04]

Try the high mileage oil with the weight thats on your oil cap and in the manual. Some are slightly heavier, but almost all of them have increased amounts of seal conditioners and such. I had a few drops hit the ground every time I parked, so I tried the high mileage and now I see an oil drop only once a week or so.

I used pennzoil fyi and it was only a couple of dimes more per quart.

[lagos]

thicker oil wont really help with an external oil leak. if the leak is internal, like from the valve seals, then it might help it a bit, but not by a lot. the best thing to do is to find the source of the leak, and to fix problem.

[Jeremiah]

It's a band-aid solution. It's harder on your oil pump, but it MIGHT slow down your oil leak. So, you're trading one problem for another (premature failure of oil pump). Granted... it'll take a long time for the pump to fail (presuming it's not already on it's last leg)... but it will fail sooner.

[celicamike]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure its leaking from my oil pan gasket, but I don't have to money to get it fixed now. Thanks for your opinions, I think I might try the high mileage oil.

[Jhensley]

I worked for the Toyota L4 assembly plant in KY and we used to test some engines with 20W-50 (they were export engines). Pretty much all the parts were the same, the oil pump was slightly different. Unless its a very small leak you're not going to gain anything. In fact it could mess up your oil rings (they were different on the exports), I wouldn't mess with it.

Oil pan leaks are way easy to fix BTW. Even if you don't want to remove it, that kind of leak is a perfect candidate for sillicone RTV patching.

[celicamike]

I thought that replacing the oil pan gasket would be a simple job, but I found out from my Chilton manual that in order to remove the oil pan on my 5S-FE, I would need to remove my hood, get a hoist to support the weight of the engine, and then remove the lower cross member. More work than I want to do. I might be interested in this silicone RTV patching though. What is it, how does it work, and where can I get it?

This post has been edited by celicamike: May 2, 2007 - 6:15 PM

[playr158]

oil pan work isn't actually all that bad, you don't have to have a hoist either...

but use some high temp RTV sealant (i think i used red on my VW)

remove the pan clean the surfaces very well, and remove the oil
lay down you bead
bolt it back up
let dry for a while
go back and torque to spec
and wow all that cost you $3

[celicamike]

If I can remove my oil pan without hoisting the engine, then do I still need to remove the crossmember? How should I remove the oil pan on my '94 GT 5SFE, what all do I need to do? I will be highly interested in doing this myself if I don't need to remove my hood or hoist the engine.

[alltracman78]

I don't believe you have to remove the front to rear cross member, but I might be wrong....

Drop exhaust.
There is a brace on the front of the engine to trans IIRC.
Remove this.
Loosen bolts/nuts on pan [10mm].
Remove pan [gotta break loose from engine, be careful if you use a prybar/screwdriver, you can easily scratch the aluminum on the oil pump/crank seal housing and bend the oil pan].
Clean surface [If there are scratches in the paint it WILL leak no matter how well you clean it. Oil hides in the edges of the scratches. How bad it leaks depends on how bad the scratches are. Personally I get rid of ALL the paint and seal the metal surface.].
USE BLUE THREADLOCKER TO KEEP THE NUTS/BOLTS FROM LOOSENING.
They WILL loosen if you don't.
And don't use red, make sure you use blue.

You might want to get a exhaust seal while you're at it.
And black RTV is best for the pan. That or the Toyota stuff, but that runs ~ $20 a tube.