Car Leaking Oil

[Colt45]

holy idiot batman

 

[littletemple]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: littletemple
as long as it doesn't damage the engine in anyway, i'm not complaining at all. The leakage is probably just some untighten plug or filter.....i'm just concerned about the engine condition.... good thing that you guys think it should be okay....i hope so

News flash! It's a CIVIC! It will run for 300,000 miles on normal oil just fine. And we've already established that the whole "mixing regular and synthetic" thing is an old wive's tale. 10 minutes with regular oil that's good enough for a Porsche isn't going to hurt your precious little baby.

Sheesh. I miss Roger, handling some of these young kids and their automotive superstitions should really be a two-man job.

ZV

I know that it will run just fine on regular oil.....i guess it false that you shouldn't mix regular and synthetic oil.....i just got concerned because i saw some oil on the floor and i remember reading that somewhere...so if it doesn't matter mixing in different oils, then i should be fine...thx for the info and clarifications

 

[bootymac]

I don't understand how different oil will cause leaking. That would be the last thing I'd check

 

[rufruf44]

If you're not supposed to mix synthetic and regular oil, they wouldn't be selling synthetic blend nowadays won't they?

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: bootymac
I don't understand how different oil will cause leaking. That would be the last thing I'd check

ZV explained how it would be possible, though the situation would be reversed. My guess is it's just some failure to cleanup mixed with lets get this annoying guy out of here attitude.

 

[Kroze]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: littletemple
as long as it doesn't damage the engine in anyway, i'm not complaining at all. The leakage is probably just some untighten plug or filter.....i'm just concerned about the engine condition.... good thing that you guys think it should be okay....i hope so

News flash! It's a CIVIC! It will run for 300,000 miles on normal oil just fine. And we've already established that the whole "mixing regular and synthetic" thing is an old wive's tale. 10 minutes with regular oil that's good enough for a Porsche isn't going to hurt your precious little baby.

Sheesh. I miss Roger, handling some of these young kids and their automotive superstitions should really be a two-man job.

ZV

maybe it'll last to 400,000 instead of 300,000?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Kroze

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: littletemple
as long as it doesn't damage the engine in anyway, i'm not complaining at all. The leakage is probably just some untighten plug or filter.....i'm just concerned about the engine condition.... good thing that you guys think it should be okay....i hope so

News flash! It's a CIVIC! It will run for 300,000 miles on normal oil just fine. And we've already established that the whole "mixing regular and synthetic" thing is an old wive's tale. 10 minutes with regular oil that's good enough for a Porsche isn't going to hurt your precious little baby.

Sheesh. I miss Roger, handling some of these young kids and their automotive superstitions should really be a two-man job.

ZV

maybe it'll last to 400,000 instead of 300,000?

Assuming a 3,000 mile change interval and quality regular oil being used, any difference is academic as there are literally thousands of other parts that would fail well before oil-lubed portions of the engine would wear enough to fail even with regular oil.

ZV

 

[Jeff7181]

Make sure they didn't leave the gasket from the old oil filter on when they put the new filter on. Chances are you'd have bigger problems right now if they did that... but it's possible.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
You're an idiot.

First of all, Castrol GTX is among the best non-synthetic oils you can buy. I've run it in each of my three Porsches (one of which was air-cooled and ran oil temps near 300 degrees fairly commonly) and I've never had problems.

There is no conceiveable way that fresh non-synthetic oil will harm an engine. The leak is likely due to a poor cleanup job by the oil change place, a crushed or kinked washer on the oil drain plug, or an incompletely fastened drain plug.

Furthermore, for normal, liquid-cooled automotive engines on a 3,000 mile change interval there is absolutely no need for synthetic oil. I've had cars with well over 200,000 miles that lived on regular oil their entire lives and still didn't lose even a pint of oil in 3,000 miles.

If you actually thought that there could be any damage to your engine whatsoever by having filled it with a high-grade regular oil like Castrol GTX, then I have some wonderful oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.

ZV

Ouch. Harsh, but true.

The 10 minutes of Castrol did no harm to your engine.

Changing Mobil 1 Synthetic every 3k is also a waste of money.

 

[Viperoni]

Originally posted by: radioouman
why are you putting 10W-30 in a Civic?

Very good question.

 

[nwfsnake]

The oil you see is probably from one of two conditions:

1) Some drained oil was sitting on a crossmember and ran off after sitting in your garage.

2) They reused the old washer and you now have a small leak at the drain plug.

Neither is too bad, as long as 2) is not a huge leak. Wipe up the oil on the floor and if you see it the second morning, you know its 2) and should take it back to them for a new washer.

 

[StageLeft]

Prolly what sampson said. Synthetic and dino are interchangeable in modern engines.

Further to benefits of synthetic, I use it in my cars because I do 7500 mile oil changes (which my many accounts is over aggressive). If you're using syn in a car every 3k your money is not important to you, obviously. Hell, if you're changing dino oil every 3k you're flushing it.

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: littletemple

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
You're an idiot.

First of all, Castrol GTX is among the best non-synthetic oils you can buy. I've run it in each of my three Porsches (one of which was air-cooled and ran oil temps near 300 degrees fairly commonly) and I've never had problems.

There is no conceiveable way that fresh non-synthetic oil will harm an engine. The leak is likely due to a poor cleanup job by the oil change place, a crushed or kinked washer on the oil drain plug, or an incompletely fastened drain plug.

Furthermore, for normal, liquid-cooled automotive engines on a 3,000 mile change interval there is absolutely no need for synthetic oil. I've had cars with well over 200,000 miles that lived on regular oil their entire lives and still didn't lose even a pint of oil in 3,000 miles.

If you actually thought that there could be any damage to your engine whatsoever by having filled it with a high-grade regular oil like Castrol GTX, then I have some wonderful oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.

ZV

I wouldn't be complaining if I were using a different type of regular oil all the time, but I've been using synthetic oil and from what I remember, regular oil and synthetic oil shouldn't be mixed

The back of the Mobil 1 oil bottle (most synthetics do) should say that it is completely compatible with conventional oils. I know a couple people who run dino/synthetic blends in their cars, for some reason...

 

[StageLeft]

The back of the Mobil 1 oil bottle (most synthetics do) should say that it is completely compatible with conventional oils. I know a couple people who run dino/synthetic blends in their cars, for some reason...

I can't remember if the bottle says it, but the website does

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: littletemple
I got a '98 Civic that has always been using Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. This past weekend when I took it to the Honda dealership for an oil change, they forgot to use the oil that I brought along (10w-30 Mobil 1). Instead, they used crappy regular oil Castrol GTX. When they got done, I told them they forgot to use my oil that I provided them and then they took out the regular oil and put in the Mobil 1 synthetic. After parking the car in the garage over the weekend and driving it today, I saw some oil leak on the garage floor. My car has never leaked like that before and I was wondering if they did some permanent damage by putting in regular oil instead of the synthetic? The regular oil was only in the engine for a brief amount of time...about 10 minutes or so and with the engine on for only a few minutes or so. So If anybody knows if putting in regular oil in an engine that has been running on synthetic for its entire lifetime permanently damages it? Do you think that they should be responsible for the damages to the engine if there are any?

OMG LOL! :laugh:

This is funny as hell.

OH NOOEESS!!! Teh Dino oil has killed my car!! :Q

:roll:



I'm sure they thought you were such an idiot about insisting that they re-do the entire oil change simply to add synthetic that they didn't replace the crush washer in the drain plug. This will cause very minor leakage. Not worth worrying about until the next oil change, but do check your oil regularly to make sure it's topped off.
I used to have this problem with a crappy dealer and my '98 Integra. They wouldn't replace the crush washer at oil changes and then small amounts of oil would leak onto my exhaust, stinking all to high hell. Feel lucky you don't have that problem.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: littletemple
I got a '98 Civic that has always been using Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. This past weekend when I took it to the Honda dealership for an oil change, they forgot to use the oil that I brought along (10w-30 Mobil 1). Instead, they used crappy regular oil Castrol GTX. When they got done, I told them they forgot to use my oil that I provided them and then they took out the regular oil and put in the Mobil 1 synthetic. After parking the car in the garage over the weekend and driving it today, I saw some oil leak on the garage floor. My car has never leaked like that before and I was wondering if they did some permanent damage by putting in regular oil instead of the synthetic? The regular oil was only in the engine for a brief amount of time...about 10 minutes or so and with the engine on for only a few minutes or so. So If anybody knows if putting in regular oil in an engine that has been running on synthetic for its entire lifetime permanently damages it? Do you think that they should be responsible for the damages to the engine if there are any?

OMG LOL! :laugh:

This is funny as hell.

OH NOOEESS!!! Teh Dino oil has killed my car!! :Q

:roll:



I'm sure they thought you were such an idiot about insisting that they re-do the entire oil change simply to add synthetic that they didn't replace the crush washer in the drain plug. This will cause very minor leakage. Not worth worrying about until the next oil change, but do check your oil regularly to make sure it's topped off.
I used to have this problem with a crappy dealer and my '98 Integra. They wouldn't replace the crush washer at oil changes and then small amounts of oil would leak onto my exhaust, stinking all to high hell. Feel lucky you don't have that problem.

Man, I never replace my crush washers

 

[KokomoGSTmp]

Originally posted by: littletemple

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
You're an idiot.

First of all, Castrol GTX is among the best non-synthetic oils you can buy. I've run it in each of my three Porsches (one of which was air-cooled and ran oil temps near 300 degrees fairly commonly) and I've never had problems.

There is no conceiveable way that fresh non-synthetic oil will harm an engine. The leak is likely due to a poor cleanup job by the oil change place, a crushed or kinked washer on the oil drain plug, or an incompletely fastened drain plug.

Furthermore, for normal, liquid-cooled automotive engines on a 3,000 mile change interval there is absolutely no need for synthetic oil. I've had cars with well over 200,000 miles that lived on regular oil their entire lives and still didn't lose even a pint of oil in 3,000 miles.

If you actually thought that there could be any damage to your engine whatsoever by having filled it with a high-grade regular oil like Castrol GTX, then I have some wonderful oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.

ZV

I wouldn't be complaining if I were using a different type of regular oil all the time, but I've been using synthetic oil and from what I remember, regular oil and synthetic oil shouldn't be mixed

Then what do you call Castrol Syntec and other synthetic blend oils? They're simply dino and synth mixed together. Nothing wrong with that. The myth is that putting in synth after dino means the seals in your engine will break down and leak. That simply isn't true anymore. Machine work these days is so much better.

I do have one point of contention with ol' ZV here... synthetic is great as a safeguard for high performance forced induction motors, especially turbos that are oil cooled only. Plus the benefit of extend drain intervals and greater temp range operation. For most people, good plain oil is fine every ~3k. Also, nobody has ever had too frequent oil changes.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Man, I never replace my crush washers

You have to every single oil change in Hondas, or they will leak around the drain plug. The leak is very minor, but really an annoyance. I've found this out the hard way.

 

[nakedfrog]

Maybe you're thinking of switching from a non-detergent oil to a detergent oil. I dunno.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Man, I never replace my crush washers

You have to every single oil change in Hondas, or they will leak around the drain plug. The leak is very minor, but really an annoyance. I've found this out the hard way.

You don't really have to, Honda says you have to. Big difference. I always do my oil myself, so maybe I'm in the minority here - but I usually replace it every 2-3 oil changes and I've never had a leakage problem, even a minor one.

Any way, everyone has pretty much covered this topic, so I have nothing to add. I can understand being anal about what kind of oil, filter, and so on - thats why I always change the oil myself. I use nothing but Mobile 1 synthetic as well, so like I said, I understand getting pissed at that.

And regarding Skoorb's comments about wasting money if you put nothing but syn in your car every 3k miles. This depends greatly on the way you drive and the type of motor you have. My Honda revs to 9,000 rpm, and under daily driving, very rarely see's rpms below 5500. I try to keep it in VTEC, for passing power. And I drive my car really hard. Most people are granny's and don't accelerate at all, much less drive at WOT so for the normal person yes. For me, I will switch it every 3-4k miles no matter what, because I know I drive my car hard, and I know the engine works harder then most.

 

[Viperoni]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Man, I never replace my crush washers

You have to every single oil change in Hondas, or they will leak around the drain plug. The leak is very minor, but really an annoyance. I've found this out the hard way.

You don't really have to, Honda says you have to. Big difference. I always do my oil myself, so maybe I'm in the minority here - but I usually replace it every 2-3 oil changes and I've never had a leakage problem, even a minor one.

Any way, everyone has pretty much covered this topic, so I have nothing to add. I can understand being anal about what kind of oil, filter, and so on - thats why I always change the oil myself. I use nothing but Mobile 1 synthetic as well, so like I said, I understand getting pissed at that.

And regarding Skoorb's comments about wasting money if you put nothing but syn in your car every 3k miles. This depends greatly on the way you drive and the type of motor you have. My Honda revs to 9,000 rpm, and under daily driving, very rarely see's rpms below 5500. I try to keep it in VTEC, for passing power. And I drive my car really hard. Most people are granny's and don't accelerate at all, much less drive at WOT so for the normal person yes. For me, I will switch it every 3-4k miles no matter what, because I know I drive my car hard, and I know the engine works harder then most.

I changed my Mobil 1 10w-30 after ~5000 miles, and an oil analysis showed that the oil could have gone another 1-2k. This was with the car driven from the end of summer to the middle of winter. Engine sees a minimum of 4k everyday, usually 5k.

Great oil that Mobil 1

 

[mrchan]

I've run Amsoil for 10,000 miles and had an oil test done and the results be just fine.

Gonna switch to mobil 1 soon though, probably run that 6,000 miles between changes.

I re-use my drain plug washer occasionally too (Honda Accord), and have never had a leak problem.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: mrchan
I've run Amsoil for 10,000 miles and had an oil test done and the results be just fine.

Gonna switch to mobil 1 soon though, probably run that 6,000 miles between changes.

I re-use my drain plug washer occasionally too (Honda Accord), and have never had a leak problem.

Amsoil is superior to Mobil 1. The difference is minor (as it really is with all the higher-end oils) and may not justify the cost though.
Per Eli, the resident oil expert, the best synthetic oils are: Amsoil > Valvoline > Mobil 1
I run Valvoline SynPower 10W30 in my WRX.

What year is your Accord? My 98 Integra would get a minor leak each and every time the crush washer was not replaced at an oil change. Just my experience though. It wouldn't be enough to drip on the ground though, but it would drip on the exhaust, and that's how I would know it.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: mrchan
I've run Amsoil for 10,000 miles and had an oil test done and the results be just fine.

Gonna switch to mobil 1 soon though, probably run that 6,000 miles between changes.

I re-use my drain plug washer occasionally too (Honda Accord), and have never had a leak problem.

Amsoil is superior to Mobil 1. The difference is minor (as it really is with all the higher-end oils) and may not justify the cost though.
Per Eli, the resident oil expert, the best synthetic oils are: Amsoil > Valvoline > Mobil 1
I run Valvoline SynPower 10W30 in my WRX.

What year is your Accord? My 98 Integra would get a minor leak each and every time the crush washer was not replaced at an oil change. Just my experience though. It wouldn't be enough to drip on the ground though, but it would drip on the exhaust, and that's how I would know it.

It's an 01 Accord.

I know Amsoil is superior to Mobil 1, but I'm tired of doing my own oil changes. Changing it on my own, with Amsoil, I Pay $30 for 5 quarts of oil + $5 for a filter.

Walmart will change it with Mobil 1 Synthetic for $30 including the filter.

In the end, I spend a little bit more because of the more frequent oil change, but I don't have to change it myself, and my car gets new oil more often.