atf in oil trick

[sho4life]

Is it ok for the sho motor? Some say add 1 quart to 4 quarts of engine oil. ONLY let it idle for 30 mins then. change oil? Any ideas or results?

was trying to see if I can help out my valve stem seals a little bit. already running high milage oil in it.

 

[Racer X]

That won't help out valve stem seals if they're leaking. That would potentially cause them to leak like sieves.

How do you know your valve stem seals are leaking?

 

[Eric VerValin]

Old school thing to clean up the inside of a motor. Wouldn't do a thing for those seals. High mileage Valvoline Max Life or something similar would work better if thats what your after.

 

[itwonder]

It is an urban myth that can cause a sticking valve if you unintentionally over do it. If you must try it, don't go anywhere near 1:4; that's way too much.

 

[rubydist]

in my experience, by the time the valve stem seals are leaking significantly, they are broken, not just hard. if they are broken the only solution is to replace them.

keep in mind that the valve stem has a big steel cap over it on which the shim rides that sets the clearance. the seal pretty much must be missing to leak badly.

 

[RonPorter]

FWIW, I had two SHOs in a row with leaks: a '95 MTX with leaky main seals, and a '94 MTX with leaky valve seals.

A few of us did experiments back then with High-Mileage oil, and we found Castrol & Valvoline (in that order) to be the best.

With HM oil getting stupid expensive, I now buy a can of seal sweller stuff (at all parts stores) and add that in place of a quart of oil.

Works great in all cases mentioned above.

 

[jc2001s]

Had a possibly head gasket leak in my old neon and used 1qt ATF to 3 1/2qts of valvoline maxlife for 3 oil changes (any time it was low it got ATF) and it ended up losing the oil leak and never had another issue with it.

I know a buddies brother used full or 1/2 ATF in his car to stop leaks/burning and the never had an issue with it either.

Old schoolers (such as my father who taught auto mech's for many years) did 1/2 ATF and 1/2 Oil for the 1st 1000 miles after an engine build or rebuild to help set the seals and also to clean out the assembly **** that was used.

As for valve stem seals, VERY doubtful anything other than replacing them will help.

 

[SHOBlu]

You want seals to swell?? Try some brake fluid in the oil!:laugh_ti: I've never done it, but heard somewhere down the line that it will swell your seals right up. If it can peel paint it should be able to recondition, erm :clears throat:.......soften Viton.