Rear main seal leak

Pep Boys tells me the little oil leak I have is the rear main seal. At this
point I add less than 1 qt. of oil between oil changes. I know it's not
going to get any better, but I can't afford to get that fixed. How much
have others paid to get the work done and do oil additives have any effect
in slowing it down. 94 Camry 2.2

I have an 89 camry 2.0 that has leaked oil out of the rear main seal sience
1992 and only loses about a 1qt of oil about every 2-3 weeks. This is a very
common problem for 2.0 and 2.2 toyota eng. Oil add. are not always the best
thing to put in sometimes they work sometimes they don't. But you must
listen to everybodys op. before you should add anything
"badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolfermanm> wrote in message
news:cSzic.16727$S42.8041@lakeread03...
> Pep Boys tells me the little oil leak I have is the rear main seal. At
this
> point I add less than 1 qt. of oil between oil changes. I know it's not
> going to get any better, but I can't afford to get that fixed. How much
> have others paid to get the work done and do oil additives have any effect
> in slowing it down. 94 Camry 2.2
>
>

"badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolfermanm> wrote in message
news:cSzic.16727$S42.8041@lakeread03...
> Pep Boys tells me the little oil leak I have is the rear main seal. At
this
> point I add less than 1 qt. of oil between oil changes. I know it's not
> going to get any better, but I can't afford to get that fixed. How much
> have others paid to get the work done and do oil additives have any effect
> in slowing it down. 94 Camry 2.2

My '96 -163,000ks leaks a small amount. I do know its because the seal lips
have gone hard due to too few oilchanges earlier in its life.

Unless it becomes a real problem: too much adding and an environmental
hazard, I'd be inclined to leave it and just check oil level regularly.

Jason

Years ago my 1990 6 cylinder got a new rear main seal at 140,000
miles. It was leaking on my garage floor so I wanted it fixed.
$450 by an honest ex Toyota master tech mechanic.
My 1997 camry 4 with 178,000 miles has no leak yet, I change
my oil a lot and run the high mileage oils with some additive in
it to soften and swell the seals...Not sure if it has had any effect
on my rear main seal but it did stop my smoke on startup oil
leaking past the valve stem seals at about 75,000 miles.

> Which type/brand of oil and additives did you use?
> And how often do you change oil?
>

I typically use Valvoline 10W-30 in my car and change every 3,000 miles.
I've owned it since 60,000 miles and now it has 154,000 miles. I've
never used any additives at all.

>Which type/brand of oil and additives did you use?
>And how often do you change oil?
>
>Blackbird

Pennzoil "high mileage" 10-30 oil. It has the additives
built in...I have seen some kind of additive at NAPA
that you can add to any oil. I change the oil/filter about
every 3,000 miles or so using Purolator filters.
My 1997 uses no oil between changes at 178,000 miles.

I was told today that I have a rear main seal leak (2000 VW Passat). I
know NOTHING about this. However, need to ask a question. I parked my
car on a sloped driveway for 2 days, and there was a spot on the ground,
however it evaporated. Nothing there now at all. I'm now parking the car
on level ground..no indication of a leak. What could this be? What leaks
from from the rear main seal? Oil? Thanks!

Yes oil is what the rear main seal is there
to stop leaking out. It is between the
engine and transmission. What probably
evaporated was water condensed from
your air conditioning system. Try an
additive that is added to the oil to soften
and slightly swell the seal to contain
the leak. NAPA parts sells some, use
it on your next oil change.

debzado wrote:
|| I was told today that I have a rear main seal leak (2000 VW Passat).
|| I know NOTHING about this. However, need to ask a question. I
|| parked my car on a sloped driveway for 2 days, and there was a spot
|| on the ground, however it evaporated. Nothing there now at all.
|| I'm now parking the car on level ground..no indication of a leak.
|| What could this be? What leaks from from the rear main seal? Oil?
|| Thanks!

YOUR first mistake was buying the Passat. YOUR second mistake was asking for
help in a TOYOTA newsgroup.

debzado wrote:
> I was told today that I have a rear main seal leak (2000 VW Passat).
> I know NOTHING about this. However, need to ask a question. I
> parked my car on a sloped driveway for 2 days, and there was a spot
> on the ground, however it evaporated. Nothing there now at all. I'm
> now parking the car on level ground..no indication of a leak. What
> could this be? What leaks from from the rear main seal? Oil?
> Thanks!

Try rec.autos.vw