Leaking Rear Seal

There are several views on "this" topic........ when switching from "regular" oils to "synthetics" on older (read several miles), leaks develop!!! I would imagine your leak developed as a result of going to synthetic oil. Apparently, the synthetic oil due to detergent properties "cleans" out the engine, that wouldn't have happened staying with regular oil. P.S. I don't need the flames folks!!!!!! As stated in the beginning, there are several "VIEWS" Herman, '83 282 5.0 H.O. formerly 242 Turbo intercooled.

So the theory would be that synthetic cleans out grit between seal and metal wall, then leaks?

Just strikes me as odd that rear seal leaks seem so prevelant in Volvo vs other vehicles. Do a google search, and you end up getting messages from this newsgroup primarily.

Gotta let this > > At around 85K my non-turbo S70 1998 rear seal began to leak.

Nevermind that all of the white block motors are prone to rear main seal leaks. Nevermind that the seal itself has undergone a few revisions to attempt to fix this problem.

If the synthetic oil were really the culprit, I'd expect that some of the other seals would spring leaks.

- alex

'85 244 Turbo

Happened to me too, at 230.000 km or so. And that's perhaps the real reason: high mileage. Because lots of people simply won't let go of their beloved volvo !

Just a thoought.

Kirth

Thanks for the comments.

What might be interesting would be constructing a spreadsheet on this problem. Example: Engine Turbo/NonTurbo Mineral/Synthetic? Synthetic Mileage Start Rear Seal Leak date etc.

See if a real pattern exists

I think that my problem may have been related to crankcase pressure due to improper flametrap PCV maintenance. Was getting some oil blow out from oil cap too I think.

Cheers

Synthetic oil doesn't "cause" leaks, it exposes them.

RS