I have a persistent oil leak which I traced to the pan gasket using UV addative and the required light and goggles. There a thread I started if anyones interested in the details "persistent oil leak losing it ". https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/r50-r53-hatch-talk-2002-2006/346819-persistant-oil-leak-losin-it.html.
I'm considering using a stop leak addative as it's only leaking a little . Can anyone recommend a good one to use ? Any reason not to use one ? Thanks in advance for any help

 

My advice and this is based upon advice from professional auto techs is to just fix the leak. This is the advice I followed. Pan gaskets like valve cover gaskets can be tricky to get to seal properly. It is important to be sure to not over tighten the bolts. This deforms the gasket and can cause a leak. Whenever I installed a valve cover or an oil pan I always used new bolts/fasteners and a good torque wrench. You want to be sure the fastener holes are clean, and probably not a problem with the oil pan since the holes are upside down but with the valve covers not full of oil.

The tightening sequence is important too. Generally but you should see this in the factory manual but generally the tightening starts with the center fasteners and one works out from the center alternating on either side of center.

 

Thank you but I've done this twice and the second time I was very careful . Not doing it again . Either going to use a stop leak or just let it drip

 

Stop leak is good if it's to drive the car 6 months before sending it to the crusher. I'd never put that crap in my car.

If it's leaking, there's a reason... Is the oil pan straight? Damaged during cleaning with the wrong cleaning disc? OEM gasket? Crank seal dry behind the pulley?

 

I'm not going to use that crap either . I'm just really pissed off that it's still leaking .
The leak makes no sense . Everything was cleaned well ..no rtv ...felpro gasket...not over tightened ...everything else dry, oil filter housing etc etc and still leaked again in the same exact spot
I drained the oil pan and it still leaked overnight ... makes no sense
I also got some UV additive and the oil pan gasket is the only leak .
Crank seal was replaced when I installed the ATI crank pulley last year

 

Is it possible to assemble oil pan without gasket & use a feeler gage around junction to find out where the gap is?

 

That's a great suggestion if I decide to do this a third time especially since its leaking in the exact same spot both times I changed the gasket . I'm going to try permatex spray sealant first .

 

Pretend it's a proper British car!

Older British car gaskets were designed to keep dirt out, not keep oil in. They didn't expect the gasket to seal, and oil leaking out kept dirt from getting in.

Your MINI is just acting like a Mini. 😁

All smartassedness aside-if it's a seep, and not a dripping leak, you might just ignore it for a while. Check your oil more often and give your brain a rest from the frustration.

I second, or third, the comment about additives. Don't do it.

 

I'm not against trying an additive . Though if it doesn't work address the issue .
alot of additives aren't used correctly and get a bad rap. I've had oil pan seals stop leaking and a leaking hg seal and work for 4 years until I got rear ended. The oil additive should be used during a fresh oil change as it can compromise the properties of the oil and old oil is already crappy enough so its things like that and following the directions about how to run the engine or temperature of engine to add it at n stuff..I say give it a shot. I HATE leaking vehicles. I'm not a greenie but simple things like that really do go along way if more people payed attention to them.
you need to understand what kind of gasket may be bad too. Obv a paper gasket can't be fixed by a rubber swelling additive . And a slipping trans isn't going to be helped by a trans cleaner but a thickening seal swelling additive rather than a cleaning additive might .

 

If it stops a leak, it can also prevent the oil from going where it's supposed to. But hey, not my engine, not my money, so he can do whatever he wants.

 

What kinda car did you put in an oil stop leak and have it wreck the engine?

 

Thanks for the help gentlemen . I dont want to take the chance of using an additive . I'm going to try permatex spray sealant which just sprays a sealant on the outside ,over the leak . Arriving tomorrow . I'll post the results

 

 

Flexseal ftw

 

Applied the sealer about 4hours ago and its really messy to use but it looks promising . I'll report back tomorrow

 

Looks like it stopped about 80% of the leak so for now I'll let it stay this way . Maybe in a few months I'll change the gasket again