Leaking front seal

Tiny
GDH7311
  • MEMBER
  • 1993 NISSAN 300ZX
  • V6
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 185,000 MILES
Oil removed, stripping fluid added to clean any grub. Front seal now leaking very bad. Did the stripping fluid do this to my car engine?
Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 3:05 PM

9 Replies

Tiny
MHPAUTOS
  • MECHANIC
  • 31,938 POSTS
Do you mean a de-greaser? If so I doubt that it would do this, probable just a failed seal. Replace it and if using a de-greaser just make sure it is well washed down to remove any loose grit that can damage a seal surface if it is washed in behind the seal surface.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 4:31 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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I wonder if it was an engine flush? If so the front seal was already failing and the cleaner just removed the crud that was stopping it from leaking before. Either way I would replace the front and probably the rear seal as well.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 5:41 PM
Tiny
GDH7311
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No not a de-greaser or engine flush. Owner of battery and brake shop bought from hardware store some kind of lacquer or whatever that cost about $20.00 and removed oil and put lacquer in and let car sit for a week then drained out and put oil back in it. I am really scared about what is happening. A mechanic I called (not the same) said instead of giving me an estimate he wanted to see the car first. Mr. Moore ordered CD2 stop oil leak and they put that in my oil today (one that put lacquer in it in the beginning).
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 8:31 PM
Tiny
MHPAUTOS
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Stop leaks are bad news for seals. All they do is swell the rubber and this only temporary seals the problem. The seal will fail and so will other seals that may not have had a problem. The only way to fix this is replace front and rear main seal and drain oil and filter and flush with oil a few times. You can use a cheap oil just to run to temperature and drain to dilute and flush stop leaks from the system. Replace with a quality oil and new filter and hopefully this will sort out the problems. Time will tell if this is so and other seals in the engine have been affected or not.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 11:17 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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I agree with the new mechanic. Drain out the stop leak and put in clean oil and take the car to the other shop. I do not think I would let the bunch you have been dealing with touch a lawnmower!
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 11:17 PM
Tiny
GDH7311
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I went today to have the old oil and CD2 (stop leak)drained out and the new mechanic said I had a mess underneath with oil everywhere and also said I had a fire hazard and tried to dry the oil while it dripped on his head! New mechanic said that it was leaking so bad, draining all out and putting new oil would probably make the leak come out even faster. He told me to get a lawyer and the whole engine needed to come out, would cost around $3,000.00 but the owner of the mechanic shop will not own up after I requested for his shop to fix it that the leak started on its own. Bad mechanic owner said he has been in business for thirty four years, has done this to many customers vehicles and he has never had any problems with those clients. Also said, he use to race cars, his son also, and this was done to never fail. I told him that I have never had any leaks from car and the problem I brought the car to him for was the oil gauge was registering near '0' and he said the paint thinner got the gauge back up, not his problem!
All I can say, is I appreciate your responses and have learned a highly expensive lesson that I have to either dump the car or find a reputable person that I can afford. The bad mechanic charged me over $400.00 and my car is now worse than ever, not safe to drive due to fire hazard.
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Friday, October 20th, 2017 AT 5:12 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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Well I am not a lawyer but I would agree with the new mechanic. Also, it would be really easy to have the oil that came out tested to demonstrate that the "other" chemicals were in there. I would tell you to record him but?

As far as years in operation and racing, big deal, I have done both as well and seen more than a few people who ran shops and had race cars that I would not let change a light bulb.

Mess ups like this are why shops are insured, either to cover the oops moments of the guy who trips and runs a tool down the side of that nice Cadillac, or to repair an engine that a poorly thought of idea wiped out.

I would also agree that the engine would need to be removed, opened up and at the very least new gaskets and a cleaning. Or go after them to install a re-manufactured engine. Your choice on that.

Sorry on behalf of the shops I know who stand behind their work, that you found one who will not.
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Saturday, October 21st, 2017 AT 12:42 AM
Tiny
GDH7311
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I am going to see an adjuster to see if my insurance can help me on this. I called to make a claim, also I found my receipt and from the bad mechanic it says paint thinner, sending unit, oil change. Thank goodness I have that at least. I hope and pray that I can get this car fixed. I have heard some high prices to get this back right. What a mess. I did request one last time to the bad mechanic if they would fix the engine and he said no, they did no wrong by draining the oil out, putting paint thinner in where the dip stick goes and for it to go down to oil pan. Also said that the engine was not started while it set in the car engine for over a week. I said it went to the rear main seal also, dripping from screws, etc. He replied, "it just happened from the age of the car, he did not do that and that anyone could call him and he would tell them the same thing. Goes to show you how some people can be sweet as can be but if some make a dumb mistake fail to tell the truth, how sad! I do have a little recorder.
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Saturday, October 21st, 2017 AT 1:38 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,935 POSTS
Good luck, With the receipt you have a lot better advantage. I have yet to see "put pain thinner into engine to clean it" in a manual.

Please do not judge all shops by the actions of that one. Keep us in the loop about what you do, Stories like this can both hurt and help. One of the smaller reasons I will not open a shop at my current location is because there have been a couple places that opened here and carried "not so good" reputations. Do not want to have guilt by location issues.
Sort of like being the only guy hanging around the corner where the "ladies of the evening" all collect.
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Saturday, October 21st, 2017 AT 1:58 AM

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