Minor Rear main seal leak on 5.0 explorer Blue devil sealer

[white98xplorer]

Hello! I have a 1998 ford explorer xlt 5.0 with a super minor rear main seal leak, like 1 drop a day maybe. Anyways was wondering if while it's small I should add a additive like Blue Devil rear main leak sealer. If anyone has had experience with something like this please let me know. Thanks!

 

[amj441]

Hello! I have a 1998 ford explorer xlt 5.0 with a super minor rear main seal leak, like 1 drop a day maybe. Anyways was wondering if while it's small I should add a additive like Blue Devil rear main leak sealer. If anyone has had experience with something like this please let me know. Thanks!

I am personally against all additive sealers. as a mechanic I have seen sealers gum up stuff real bad. Ask yourself if youd ever be willing to remove the transmission to do it or whether or not you plan to keep the car for a long time. If you plan on limping it till its dead then yes. small leak is time to add it. if you have the 4.0sohc just make sure the oil isnt coming from the top between the valley of the engine. youll find oil on top of the transmission bell housing

 

[white98xplorer]

I am personally against all additive sealers. as a mechanic I have seen sealers gum up stuff real bad. Ask yourself if youd ever be willing to remove the transmission to do it or whether or not you plan to keep the car for a long time. If you plan on limping it till its dead then yes. small leak is time to add it. if you have the 4.0sohc just make sure the oil isnt coming from the top between the valley of the engine. youll find oil on top of the transmission bell housing

Ok thanks, i read some stuff about it swelling up and weakening good seals too so I decided not to. I'm not gonna own it forever so it shouldn't be a big deal

 

[410Fortune]

If you look at a 5.0 rear mail seal it is rubber with a spring, not some old rope that can shrink and then swell with the addition of some Magic additive

The only way to fix your rear main seal leak is by installing a new one
The cat converter is directly beneath the rear main seal on these trucks all that heat does not help the already leak prone small
Block. This is a 1969 design carried through to 2001. They just leak with miles, no way around it.
No magic swelling agent is going to fix that seal… that stuff might work on a rope style rear main but it has been many many years since those were used

Thicker oil may slow the leak, like
Lucas engine honey… but at what cost? Thicker oil does not flow through lifters as easily

If the drip is annoying because it burns off the top of converter a simple tin shield can be made to divert the drip away from the cat

A new rear main seal is how you fix a leaking 302