1. Home
  2. Automotive Technologies
  3. Oil stop leak for GM, worth it?

Oil stop leak for GM, worth it?

Hey All,

I recently purchased a 1994 Cadillac SLS with the 32v Northstar v8. It has 25k miles and I purchased this car for snow bird use for a relative so it will only be driven 6 months out of the year in the summertime (~3-4k annually). I changed the oil and noticed the underside of the car was wet with oil. The engine was also filthy so I assume it had never been cleaned and I gave it a thorough cleaning. The oil level sensor definitely leaked so I replaced it but now I seem to have a bit of weeping around the oil pan gasket. The previous owner also let it sit for 6-8 months at a time. From what I can tell and from some searching, the engine needs to be removed to replace the oil pan gasket. Is there a stop leak or something I can just add to the crank case to stop the leak? It seems the leak leaves about 3 drops when the car is left overnight so it's not a huge deal, but more of an asthetics issue. I assume most oil additves are snake oil but could be wrong and was was curious if anything could help.

TIA,

Derek

Reply to
genius
Loading thread data ...

No, the stop leak stuff won't do the job. At best, it will slow the weeping temporarily, but if you have a gasket starting to fail it is only a short time before it fails completely.

I would first get a torque wrench and make sure the pan is properly installed to begin with. It could have worked itself loose a bit. Then I would change the gasket if that doesn't solve it.

I have not worked on the SLS, but it may be possible to change the gasket without completely removing the pan. There are a lot of cars where you can drop the pan a few inches, razor off the old gasket, then get a new one on there without having to pull the engine out.

On the other hand, you can also look at the oil leak as a sort of anti rust system that is protecting the underside of your car.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Thanks for the tips. I was afraid of that. I'll get under there with a torque wrench once I find the specs and see what I can do. OTOH, it's not that bad of a leak and soon it won't be my problem....

Reply to
genius

Stop leak won't help. New gaskets won't help for long either... The NorthStar seems to just be a leaky engine.

If you haven't changed the coolant do so now and stay on top of it. The NorthStar has a huge problem with head gasket failure. The head bolts threads pull out of the aluminum block leaving you in a pickle. Unfortunately it is so much work to fix that the cars just get scrapped...

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.