Using an additive to stop an oil leak....

Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
additive to the oil?

Car has over 230,000 miles - I am looking to do things cheaply but do not
want to harm the car because it runs very well.

- Ben

Ben Martin wrote:
> Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
> additive to the oil?

No. They don't work. Anything that will stop the l;eak would do damage
to your enngine. Are you certain it is a head gasket and not a valve
cover gasket? Big difference in cost and ease of fix.




--
-Fred W

On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:40:36 +0000, Ben Martin wrote:

> Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
> additive to the oil?
>
> Car has over 230,000 miles - I am looking to do things cheaply but do not
> want to harm the car because it runs very well.
>
> - Ben

Welp.. no. The plastic parts and gasket/seals have to be replaced at your
mileage. Do you have an E34? The parts don't cost anything and the labor
ain't much so odds are it'll be cheaper just to bring it to a independent
bmw shop.

Typical high mileage synthetic oil has additives to make the seals swell
and so do the regular additives, of course. But if the seal just ain't
there anymore, which is your case, there's no point. Honestly, it cost me
100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34. It's not a big deal, and if
you wanna do it yourself, check out www.bimmer.info and do a search. Good
luck.

ER

Enoch Root wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:40:36 +0000, Ben Martin wrote:
>
>
>>Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
>>additive to the oil?
>>
>>Car has over 230,000 miles - I am looking to do things cheaply but do not
>>want to harm the car because it runs very well.
>>
>>- Ben
>
>
> Welp.. no. The plastic parts and gasket/seals have to be replaced at your
> mileage. Do you have an E34? The parts don't cost anything and the labor
> ain't much so odds are it'll be cheaper just to bring it to a independent
> bmw shop.
>
> Typical high mileage synthetic oil has additives to make the seals swell
> and so do the regular additives, of course. But if the seal just ain't
> there anymore, which is your case, there's no point. Honestly, it cost me
> 100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34. It's not a big deal, and if
> you wanna do it yourself, check out www.bimmer.info and do a search. Good
> luck.
>
> ER
>

I seriously doubt that you paid $100 for a head gasket. Even a valve
cover gasket costs more than $50 in parts (gaskets & bolt seals) per
head (x2 if it's a V8)

--
-Fred W

Enoch Root wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Jun 2006 07:18:25 -0400, Fred W wrote:
>
>> Enoch Root wrote:
>>> On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:40:36 +0000, Ben Martin wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
>>>> additive to the oil?
>>>>
>>>> Car has over 230,000 miles - I am looking to do things cheaply but do not
>>>> want to harm the car because it runs very well.
>>>>
>>>> - Ben
>>>
>>> Welp.. no. The plastic parts and gasket/seals have to be replaced at your
>>> mileage. Do you have an E34? The parts don't cost anything and the labor
>>> ain't much so odds are it'll be cheaper just to bring it to a independent
>>> bmw shop.
>>>
>>> Typical high mileage synthetic oil has additives to make the seals swell
>>> and so do the regular additives, of course. But if the seal just ain't
>>> there anymore, which is your case, there's no point. Honestly, it cost me
>>> 100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34. It's not a big deal, and if
>>> you wanna do it yourself, check out www.bimmer.info and do a search. Good
>>> luck.
>>>
>>> ER
>>>
>> I seriously doubt that you paid $100 for a head gasket. Even a valve
>> cover gasket costs more than $50 in parts (gaskets & bolt seals) per
>> head (x2 if it's a V8)
>
> It's a V8, and I bought it and brought it to them. It took them a little
> over an hour, so it was 100 in labor. So.. "Honestly, it cost me
> 100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34." They did a great job, and
> this was the thing that cost the least in repairs. Engine mounts- holy
> crap. Took the guy 2 days to do this. Anyhow, all told I dropped about
> 4K in bringing the entire car up to mint specifications.
>
> So anyhow, for the original poster, if you know what you need to buy, you
> can get it from www.bmaparts.com, but get a bmwcca membership first so you
> get a discount of 5% off OEM parts. Also you get discounts from the BMW
> independent shops for the bmwcca membership. Good luck.

I think you guys are talking apples and oranges. For $100 and an hours
work, they changed the valve cover gasket. A head gasket change is at
least an all-day job for a pro, and 10 times the cost.

Ben, you never did say what was leaking, and where it was going to.
Compression leak to water jacket?
water leak to ..?
Oil leak to outside of engine?

Thanks to all for getting back to me.

The car is leaking oil between cylinders 4 and 5, on the exhaust side of the
engine. One tech told me this was a "classical" failure for this car, a
1990 BMW 325is.

Some oil may be going into the cooling water, but I am not sure. There is a
very small amount of oil in the water that has been there a long time. It
may be residuue from the time my car overheated at 160,000. I had the top
end redone then. The car now has 230,000 miles. I do have to add coolant
occasionaly. So maybe it is possible that I have a very small two way leak
between the crankcase and radiator portions of my engine. But a lot of oil
is coming out of the head gasket, on the exhaust side.

But the car still runs very well.

- Ben



"Rex B" > wrote in message
...
>
> Enoch Root wrote:
> > On Thu, 08 Jun 2006 07:18:25 -0400, Fred W wrote:
> >
> >> Enoch Root wrote:
> >>> On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:40:36 +0000, Ben Martin wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Has anyone ever had success stopping a head gasket leak by adding an
> >>>> additive to the oil?
> >>>>
> >>>> Car has over 230,000 miles - I am looking to do things cheaply but do
not
> >>>> want to harm the car because it runs very well.
> >>>>
> >>>> - Ben
> >>>
> >>> Welp.. no. The plastic parts and gasket/seals have to be replaced at
your
> >>> mileage. Do you have an E34? The parts don't cost anything and the
labor
> >>> ain't much so odds are it'll be cheaper just to bring it to a
independent
> >>> bmw shop.
> >>>
> >>> Typical high mileage synthetic oil has additives to make the seals
swell
> >>> and so do the regular additives, of course. But if the seal just
ain't
> >>> there anymore, which is your case, there's no point. Honestly, it
cost me
> >>> 100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34. It's not a big deal,
and if
> >>> you wanna do it yourself, check out www.bimmer.info and do a search.
Good
> >>> luck.
> >>>
> >>> ER
> >>>
> >> I seriously doubt that you paid $100 for a head gasket. Even a valve
> >> cover gasket costs more than $50 in parts (gaskets & bolt seals) per
> >> head (x2 if it's a V8)
> >
> > It's a V8, and I bought it and brought it to them. It took them a
little
> > over an hour, so it was 100 in labor. So.. "Honestly, it cost me
> > 100 bucks to get a shop to fix this on a E34." They did a great job,
and
> > this was the thing that cost the least in repairs. Engine mounts- holy
> > crap. Took the guy 2 days to do this. Anyhow, all told I dropped about
> > 4K in bringing the entire car up to mint specifications.
> >
> > So anyhow, for the original poster, if you know what you need to buy,
you
> > can get it from www.bmaparts.com, but get a bmwcca membership first so
you
> > get a discount of 5% off OEM parts. Also you get discounts from the BMW
> > independent shops for the bmwcca membership. Good luck.
>
> I think you guys are talking apples and oranges. For $100 and an hours
> work, they changed the valve cover gasket. A head gasket change is at
> least an all-day job for a pro, and 10 times the cost.
>
> Ben, you never did say what was leaking, and where it was going to.
> Compression leak to water jacket?
> water leak to ..?
> Oil leak to outside of engine?

Ben Martin wrote:
> Thanks to all for getting back to me.
>
> The car is leaking oil between cylinders 4 and 5, on the exhaust side of the
> engine. One tech told me this was a "classical" failure for this car, a
> 1990 BMW 325is.
>
> Some oil may be going into the cooling water, but I am not sure. There is a
> very small amount of oil in the water that has been there a long time. It
> may be residuue from the time my car overheated at 160,000. I had the top
> end redone then. The car now has 230,000 miles. I do have to add coolant
> occasionaly. So maybe it is possible that I have a very small two way leak
> between the crankcase and radiator portions of my engine. But a lot of oil
> is coming out of the head gasket, on the exhaust side.

Well, heck, other than being messy and having to check the oil, that's
no big deal. No additive will stop it, but it's possible you could seal
it from the outside if you can get at it. Permatex used to make an
aerosol that you could spray onto a leaking joint to stop an oil leak.
Designed for oil pans and such with no pressure, but it could work on a
head gasket.

If it were mine, and it was losing enough oil to be a nuisance, here's
what I'd do:
Pull enough of the simple stuff off to get a clear working area
around the leak. Clean it and degrease thoroughly, spray brake cleaner
into the seam where it's leaking. Be sure it's cold. Then press some of
the epoxy putty - JB Weld, preferably - into the seam for about 2 inches
or more either side of the leak. You should be able to do this such that
it's almost invisible. You don't need a big glob on it. Replace the
items removed, let it set up overnight.

Ben Martin wrote:
> Thanks to all for getting back to me.
>
> The car is leaking oil between cylinders 4 and 5, on the exhaust side of the
> engine. One tech told me this was a "classical" failure for this car, a
> 1990 BMW 325is.
>
> Some oil may be going into the cooling water, but I am not sure. There is a
> very small amount of oil in the water that has been there a long time. It
> may be residuue from the time my car overheated at 160,000. I had the top
> end redone then. The car now has 230,000 miles. I do have to add coolant
> occasionaly. So maybe it is possible that I have a very small two way leak
> between the crankcase and radiator portions of my engine. But a lot of oil
> is coming out of the head gasket, on the exhaust side.
>
> But the car still runs very well.

The reason everyone is asking what the symptoms are is because it does
not sound like you have a head gasket problem.

It sounds more like you have a valve cover gasket problem which is
trivial to fix.

Find out which it is and then you can decide how to proceed.

--
-Fred W