As some may know, I got my 49 3100 w/a stock 216 running approx 8 months ago. I had to pull the head and have it rebuilt but the bottom end was untouched except for a deglazeing of the rusted cylinders and the piston tops cleaned up. The truck was parked sometime in 69 and never started again until I revived it. The odometer showed approx 99450 miles and the oil change sticker on the door showed it was due at 99500. It was kept in the dry the whole time. The oil & antifreeze still looked somewhat good which is somewhat surprising given the time frame it sat.
I've since put over 4k miles on it and it seems to run better w/use. I experimented w/different grades of oil and settled on Rotella 15w40. I get almost 30psi cold and avg just under 15psi when warm at speed. There's no unusual knocking, pinging or banging, just the steady ticking of the valve train. Since getting it running it has leaked oil from just about every sealing surface, especially the front & rear main seals. It was avg'ing approx alittle over a 1 qt every 75 - 100 miles. Being in no hurry to take it off line since I'm enjoying cruising it, I decided to try some snake oil additive to see if it would at least slow down the leaks. Over the past month after an oil & filter change I've added 1ea 16oz bottle of Bars Leaks Rear Main Seal Repair along with 1/2 qrt of 15w40 to bring the oil back up to full when needed. I've added 4ea 16oz bottles of the Bars Leaks over this time frame. I'm happy to say that I've cut my oil leaking by 1/2. In other words I'm only having to add 1/2 qrt of oil every 100 miles of usage now.
Now is it the additive, the regular oil finally softening those seal or a combination of both?
Since this snake oil runs $7 a bottle I've decided to discontinue for now and only run the 15w40 until the next oil change and judge the results.
I generally don't use or recommend any kind of miracle snake oil additives but I found these results very interesting.
As a side note most of my known oil leaking was observed after engine shutdown and the drip pan floor spots indicates the leaks were mainly at the rear & front seal areas....
Now if I could only stop that valve cover from leaking...
When I was a refrigeration mechanic, I had a customer who shut his walk-in down for the winter. Every spring I would have to add refrigerant but could find no leaks. I finally realized that while it was sitting, the gaskets dried out and shrank, letting it leak. When he turned it on, the oil would hit the gaskets, swell them up and stop the leaks. After that, I told him to turn it over once a week to keep it from leaking and as far as I know, it did the trick. All that leads up to me saying that yes, the seals might very well be swelling and stopping the leakage. Keep an eye on it for the next oil change interval and see what happens.
...Ed, I also advise folks to turn on their A/C in their car a few times in the winter to make sure things stayed "oiled up". ...volfandt, I'm one to never use the "snake oils" but I'm not saying I wouldn't invest in a bottle to buy a little time until I could actually fix the problem. Its not that big of a deal to put in a rear seal (or valve cover gasket) but I'll bet the timing is always a factor!! Those Tenn. days will be getting warmer soon so be sure to add it to the "list"
Swelling the seals to prevent a leak is a common patch. I'd say that it really doesn't fix anything, as you're still leaking oil.
Depending on the reason for the leak (old seals, a groove worn on the sealing surface etc) swelling of the seals may not do much.
Not sure if a 49 would have the rope seal or newer neoprene type. My 42 was rebuilt with rope seals but that can also affect the swelling action.
I would consider 1qt every 200 miles a serious enough leak to fix ASAP. Seals are like $20 and doing the front and rear seals on a 216 is something you can do without taking the motor out. Your driveway must look like a BP oil spill.
Swelling the seals to prevent a leak is a common patch. I'd say that it really doesn't fix anything, as you're still leaking oil.
Depending on the reason for the leak (old seals, a groove worn on the sealing surface etc) swelling of the seals may not do much.
Not sure if a 49 would have the rope seal or newer neoprene type. My 42 was rebuilt with rope seals but that can also affect the swelling action.
I would consider 1qt every 200 miles a serious enough leak to fix ASAP. Seals are like $20 and doing the front and rear seals on a 216 is something you can do without taking the motor out. Your driveway must look like a BP oil spill.
Stovebolt gaskets were mostly cork and the seals were either rope or leather. ALL of these are designed to utilize oil as a sealing agent by swelling the materials to provide the seal. A common mistake made when using cork gaskets is using a RTV on both sides of the gasket, preventing oil from making its way into the cork. Having said all of that, the OP may be a bit optimistic in hoping to solve such severe leakage with a bottle of something.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
LOL, Looks like my original intent on this thread was somehow missed. If anyone got the impression that I thought this snakeoil would completely stop the main oil seal leaks well, I guess I didn't lay the post out as I thought.....
The rear seal is probably the original rope and I'll bet the front is the original seal also. As previously stated I didn't do anything to the bottom end so it's a safe assumption that it is still in factory condition. The original owners son once commented that he thought the pistons & rings were replaced but from my observation w/the head off I think the pistons are original (due to the stamping on the tops). With all that said I am still amazed at how well this engine is running considering the bottom end has over 100k miles on it.
Also as stated I generally don't use nor recommend any kind of gas/oil additives with the exception of Stabil for gas and DieselPower for diesel. Both help keep the fuel "fresh" over longer periods. Otherwise I don't use additives except in this case and to be honest I was so surprised at the results that I thought I'd post about it. Basically, the oil leaking wasn't reduced until I used the snakeoil and it's reduced by 1/2.... The std oil I've been using didn't reduce it by itself or I'd have noticed it before hand.
I've read where the "high mileage" rated oils contain some sort of seal conditioner over and above std rated oils but those oils are more expensive here locally, about double what I give for Rotella 15w40 on sale. So my limited logic said stay w/the good Rotella oil and add a higher concentrate of the seal conditioner and see what happens. And what happened was it cut the leaking by 1/2!
Anyways, when the mood hits I'll address the engine and bodywork and bed properly but the mood ain't hitting as I have limited time and far too many other projects at this time. I do not want to take this enjoyable stress relieving weekend cruiser off the road at this time. Bottom line it seems to run & behave better w/use... I've got plenty of oil and drip pan(s) to keep my shop floor clean Carry on Dave
I am not against oil stop leak additives. In fact my son's 95 Thunderturd had a significantly leaky rear main and that stuff stopped it, not slowed it down, but stopped it. Granted that engine doesn't use a rope seal, so I don't know how it works on them. Carl
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
Has anyone tried "Titan" stop leak for rope seals? If so, did it work for you? My engine is a '59 235 with less than 5k miles on it TITAN OIL STOP LEAK
Last edited by PaPa Joe; 02/21/20186:58 PM. Reason: fixed a typo
I built a 261 in 2015. 59 block so neoprene rear seal and standard timing cover seal. Developed a leak in both. The timing seal leak turned out not to be the seal, but a failure of the timing cover gasket. I always modify the front main cap of all of my motors so that was easy to fix. Shortly thereafter, the rear main started to leak. It was leaking like a sieve and I was in no mood to tear it down. So I gave the Barr's a try. Stopped the rear main seal leak so I am not surprised that it affected the front seal of your motor. As for the rope seal on your block, the Barr's specifically states that does not work on rope seals. So the Titan would be my next stop although I don't see where it is useful for rope seals but maybe I just missed it. Also, the Barrs did not thicken my oil. It supposedly works by swelling the seal, not by thickening the oil.
I won't lie, I was as surprised as anyone that it did the trick but it did do the trick.
At the price of that Titan stuff, I'd say P.T. Barnum must have been employed somewhere in the Research and Development department! Zombie threads are always fun, though! Jerry
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