Anyone ever try Bar's Leaks product for a rear main seal leak? Don't want to gum up the engine, but then again, if this stuff works without any problems, what an easy fix for around nine bucks.

 

The ground walnut shell stuff for cooling systems seem to work okay; not sure about the stuff used in the oil. If the leak is minor it might work. I await to hear what others say about it...

 

A little known fact is,Olds put a coolant sealer in every car that left the line. Says so right in the PIM.

 

The last "stop leak" product I used was Trans-X for a front pump seal leak. Same basic claim, it "reconditions" the dried out seal. In my case it made the leak worse!

 

Never used the rear main seal stuff,the radiator stuff works well enough to get you home as a band-aid. I don't think much of miracles in a bottle. In my experience they usually give it up some where in the boondocks and out of Ceil range.....Tedd

 

Stop leak products generally cause more problems then they are worth. They work by causing the seals to soften and swell. This sometimes will slow leaks in the short term, but tend to cause leaks in other places too in the long term. In my professional opinion they will not fix your rear main seal leak. If it is the original rope type seal it is pretty normal to see some oil seepage.

Chris

 

NO!!! Run away from that $hit.

 

I wouldn't touch it. As Mak said, transmission seal "conditioners" are the worst out there. They are seal swellers, and they don't know when to stop. So one day the seal has become so swollen and mushy it falls apart and the leak returns, only much worse.

 

I agree with the seal stop leak products but I think the Bars radiator sealer is a very good product. As I said before,Olds put a can of coolant sealer in every car that left the assembly line. If Olds did it,what's wrong with it?

 

Not sure exactly what product the OP wants to use, but if it is this one...

http://barsproducts.com/catalog/view...al-repair-1050

...it still says it contains conditioners, which I will never put in my engine/trans. Only whatever additive pack comes in motor oil/ATF already.

I admit I have no experience with their radiator stop leak, but am still hesitant of using a bottle of something to try and fix a mechanical or physical problem.

 

From what I have seen over the years most seal conditioners tend to over condition the seals to the point of turning them into over swollen piles of goo. Radiator seals work if the leak is in the core, if the leak is on a tank seam forget about it, nothing works except fixing it the right way.

 

I've yet to see a liquid that completely fixes a solid...

Bar Leak is no exception...

 

Oldsmobile also put in a horrible oil drain back system, and an insanely heavy rotating assembly.

If you look at how small the holes in head gaskets and heads are, you will see how easily the small cooling holes will clog with pretty much anything.

There's always rust,sand, leaves, and other misc junk floating through the coolant, struggling to push through there.
I would not want to add a bonding agent to all of that.

If the motor was a freshly cleaned build, ok, maybe a little bit of bars leak for a just in case.

I have seen HORRIBLE things happen in dex cool systems especially.

In the 90's, chev v8 motors with dex cool in them would convert the coolant into a jello sort of substance. Thus blocking up the cooling passages with snot.

Then, regular folks would try changing the thermostat or water pump because the temp was getting too high.

They would do a crappy job, and it would leak.

Then they would be looking for an easy way out.... put some leak stop in, and turn the jello into toothpaste.

Then they would roach the motor and cry about the price to fix it.

 

A good quality high mileage oil like a Valvoline Maxlife has seal conditioners as an additive in the oil. It is safer to use an oil like this over using a whole bottle of seal swelling additive like the Bars leak. If its a small leak it may do the trick but if its a bleeder then you are probably stuck with it until you can drop the pan and fix it.

 

AZ455,
That is indeed the product I was considering. The leak my car has is semi-slow...probably exacerbated by using synthetic oil (Amsoil). Maybe a quart of the Val. Maxlife is worth a try. Otherwise, it's throw down cat litter and live with it.

 

I had a race car years ago, and valvoline gave us 10 cases of synthetic engine oil. Because we had so much I started running it in my van too. The engine started leaking from everywhere and smoking on startup. I switched back to conventional oil and the leaks and smoking went away. Food for thought...

Chris