Twice I've avoided rebuilding one of my 12A's simply by using No Leak engine treatment. This is a poll to see if I'm just really lucky or if this stuff really works.

Here's the stuff:





The first time I used it on a bad dowel O ring leak that was dripping about a quart every 400 miles in my 84 GSL. I was preparing for a rebuild but I figured I'd give the engine additives a shot. Sure enough, the first treatment with the No Leak stuff all but stopped the leak after just a few hundred miles. I continued to add a bottle with every oil change and ended up driving that 12A more than another 50,000 before the car was retired with the engine still running fine (Stu got it).

The second time was just recently, when my silver 85 GSL, which had been sitting for 3 years, turned out to be smoking badly on start up, probably because of leaking oil control seals. It was consuming a quart every 500 miles for the first 3000 miles after I started driving it as a daily driver. Once again I was thinking rebuild but I gave the No Leak a try and Whoah, it worked again!

The first treatment, about three weeks ago, reduced oil consumption to completely normal after about 300 miles. Now, after 1500 miles, I just have the usual puff of smoke at start up. (Before I could find some No Leak, I tried the equivalent product from Bardahl and one called Engine Honey, neither of these made any difference in the oil consumption problem). I added one more bottle of No Leak this evening to see if I can get rid of that last little puff at start up (and took some pictures for this poll).

So in an attempt to get a larger sample size, I thought I'd ask some of you rotor heads with the dowel O ring leak or leaking oil control seals to give it a try (if you haven't already) and contribute to this study.

Here's the poll:

A. Yes I tried No Leak and it significantly reduced oil consumption for my dowel O ring leak.

B. Yes I tried No Leak and it significantly reduced oil consumption for my oil control seal problem (smoke at start up).

C. No the stuff doesn't work, it's snake oil and Ray probably works for the company.

D. I wouldn't use this **** because I really like rebuilding 12As.

 

I remember that engine. We put it in the SA, it ran great! We later tore it down, not because of problems, but for the rotors.

There wasn't a "no, but it works" option, so I chose option 1!

EDIT: Also, I would remember if there was gunk in the passageways, but there wasn't any. It was pretty clean and tidy in there.

 

Good 2 know.

 

My buddy's 12a has a dowel pin leak and its pretty significant. He used the Lucas engine oil stop leak with great results. It still leaks but not nearly as much and his leak was horrible before.

 

If alternatives like the Lucas stop leak work that's great to know, I'd consider that the same result as long as we know which ones work and which don't.

As I mentioned above, before getting my hands on some of the Gold Eagle product (it can be hard to find sometimes) I tried engine treatment products from Bardahl (the guys who make those cool racing stickers - I tried two treatments for a total of 1000 miles) and "Engine Honey", which I think actually is made from honey.

Both are less expensive products by a dollar or two and both didn't work on the Silver One's oil control seal problem that responded so well to the No Leak.

 

its only a temporary fix

 

It's all just a stall. Hell, that's all doctors do too! If it buys you another year before a rebuild then it also buys you another year before the rebuild in your near future will start smoking as well. The way Ray drives cars, any rebuilt engine will eventually smoke, as he'll drive it on until rebuild no. 3, given the chance.

I'd say that even a temporary fix is a valid fix in this instance. No engine burns clean forever. What I'm NOT so sure about, though, it burning this stuff and putting it through the cats. I'd be tempted to run an external OMP oil feed when doing this so you can burn clean 2-stroke while experimenting in the sump.

 

Ok Ray, how much of your 401K is in Gold Eagle stock

 

No Tim, there's no Gold Eagle stock in my 401k (no 401K either). In fact it took me two weeks to locate a bottle of the stuff to give it a try in the Silver One. As you know, I'm a committed sociocapitalist. May the best product win and let's do a little socioengineering in the mean time to eliminate the bogus products (which is what this post is all about).

So far we have:

Works: Gold Eagle No Leak and Lucas Engine Treatment

Doesn't work: Bardahl engine treatment and Engine Honey (STP didn't help my dowel O ring leak either)

The fact that the fix for either the leaking dowel O rings or leaking oil control seals is "temporary" sounds like a comment from an engine builder looking for a job. If it's temporary, that means it worked, right?

I fixed my dowel O ring leak in the Tan One when it had 110,000 miles, then drove it without trouble past 160,000 over a period of three years. The Silver One is now running great and not burning oil any more. I'm happy and it only cost pocket change.

Were the O rings going to give out on the Tan One eventually? Sure, although I never saw it. So did it matter? No. Will my oil control problem come back on the Silver One? Maybe, but she only has 111,000 miles on her now, I'll bet she sees 170,000 plus before I really need to do a rebuild. Sounds like a fix to me. (Although I do have contingency plans for the rebuild when the time comes).

And Crit's right, I generally get many more miles out of my 12As than most people. I need to, they do my 110 mile daily commute.

 

I believe that member onlyonthur has used the Lucas engine oil stabilizer and had great results with fixing the dowel pin leakage.

 

As far as where to get?

Right off of the back of the bottle gives you their website and you will find this link. :-)

http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/no_l...re_to_buy.aspx


Went straight to CSK website and found-

http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductL...=Engine+Oil+Tr

 

Ray,

Just for you I just went down to the local CSK store to see if they had any and they had lots on the shelf. I picked a bottle up and will be putting it in my 85 Se which now has over 200k on the clock.

 

Alright, somebody who's actually gonna do some research and report some data! Thanks for the link with the retailers Doc, Walmart probably has it way cheaper than autozone, I'll go there for my next bottle.

Really, I'm not trying to sell this stuff, I'm just curious if it works as well in other situations as it has the two times it's worked for me. If so, it could save a lot of rebuilds, or, as Crit and Thukrd put it, at least provide a temporary fix for a few years.

The only way we'll know is if a bunch of you guys give it a try and report your results. This will take a few weeks of course, so I'll be checking the poll for the next month or two to see what you guys come up with.

 

i used it once, i guess it helped a bit. will buy some again.

my teachers told me not to use those kinds of products coz they might do some harm. not really sure how much i'd trust that statement tho

 

The lucas treatment is some pretty good stuff. I would never use any sort of radiator/coolant stopleak on a rotary, that's some nasty crap and will clog, and cause all sorts of damage...

 

I think the radiator sealers have an insoluble "filler" that accumulates in the leak area to create a plug, kind of like a clogged artery. The engine treatments work differently, by chemically swelling rubber oil seals. So yeah, the rad stop leak is bad, but the engine stop leak might be good if your rubber control rings are deteriorated but still somewhat restorable.

Doc's situation brings up an interesting point, his being a high mileage engine. In both of my examples, the No Leak worked on engines with relatively low mileage (about 110,000 miles) that had been sitting or not driven much for the last few years. The idea here is that the No Leak reconditioned stiffened or dried seals.

In Doc's case the leaks may be due to normal wear in a high mileage (200,000 miles) regularly driven engine rather than deterioration of the seals due to inactivity. It will be interesting to see if the No Leak can improve his situation as well.

And yeah, if I had a shop and plenty of time for projects (like the automotive tech teachers do) I'd go for the rebuild. But if you have a gravel driveway and an old RX-7 you are getting back on the road, No Leak could be your friend.

 

Nice. I was going to ask someone to post a pic of what this stuff looked like but you covered that 2 days ago...! Thanks Mr.Green.

 

I just went to Walmart and bought a bottle.. I will give it a try in my 1980 RX-7. I have been fighting oil consumption and smoke ever since I bought this car. It runs too good and does not leak a drop.... so there is no way I want to do a rebuild right now..

Lucas leak stop seemed to help my first start smoke problem.

Problem is, if I drive a long time and really get the oil hot, the car smokes taking off and on the 2nd gear shift.

When I mainly do a bunch of city driving and just running around town, oil consumption does not seem too bad..

When I highway drive for a long time, it burns a quart every 200-300 miles easily.

Also the lower the level on the dipstick, the quicker it seems to burn and the more it will burn.

Seems like the problem exacerbates more when hot.

Does our oil cooler have some form of a thermostat??? I have the old style (not beehive)

I guess I should take my temp gun and measure in and out of the cooler...

Anyhoo... I will report back my findings..

 

I have an se with 213k and suffering from oil control ring issues. It smokes a good bit. I have some Lucas treatment in there and hope to log a few hundred miles sometime soon and see if she clears up. If not, I'll try the No Leak. I'll report my results either way.

 

Try it! You have nothing to lose! The worst that will happen is not working, then it's rebuild time.
It's threads/times like these that really make me miss my 12a My current rebuild is gonna be pricey!

 

Does our oil cooler have some form of a thermostat??? I have the old style (not beehive)

Yes. On the bottom left of the cooler you can see the plug that holds it in. It bypasses oil in the oil cooler when the oil is cold (<140*F), or when the pressure differential from oil cooler inlet to outlet is 50psi or more.

 

i'm in the middle of seeing whether it works or not, but since the car isn't registered, i only run it for a little while every three or four days. i'll let you know though

 

+1 for the Lucas oil stop leak. I have a horrible dowel pin leak after doing the amsoil engine flush and running the signature 0w-30. Threw in the lucas stop leak, and the leak is almost completely gone. There is only a little oil spot on top of the motor now, VS a puddle under the car.
Good stuff!

 

Hows peoples leaks going im thinking about giving it a try no side effects?

 

So I'm assuming there is nano technology invovled in this product? Like the nano machines repair the leaky dowel pins? Cause if not what tells this **** not to get stoped up in the filter or gum up EVERY oil passage, or form a grimmy layer inside every oriface that oil travels through?

Cheap/quick fixes make for DIFFICULT repairs IMPO.


Also, rebuilding is fun :P