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Question:

What is a good additive for worn piston rings?

As you can tell my piston rings are worn and I have blue smoke going everywhere. I just switched out the oil and went with a thicker weight and put in some bardahl stop leak additive but after a few start ups the car is still smoking. I was wondering if there was a specific amount of mileage that is needed in order for the additive to flow through the engine to temporarily stop the leak or if there was another brand of additive that‘s better or if additives just don‘t work. I realize that eventually ill have to rebuild the engine but I‘m just trying to buy some time here. Thanks.

Answer:

the money you will spend for additives and some trial and error repair, plus the oil to top the level, just save it for engine rebuilding. no additives can fix, weld, build up a broken/worn out piston rings and sleeves/cylinders. and no oil can restore the flexibility of valve seals, cam seals, and crankshaft seals when it starts to leak.
For the best answers, search on this site shorturl.im/awTAe First of all no piston rings and valve stems (in most cars) don't have seals. The reason synthetic oil may cause leaks is because the detergent package is stronger. Intake manifold and valve covers do not have rubber seals. Crap and garbage build-up behind and the sides of ring grooves makes the rings stick which causes loss of compression and the ability of the lower oil ring not to scrape oil off the walls and return it to the pan as well. If your motor now uses more than a quart of oil every 2,000 miles and doesn't leak a drop synthetic oil will clean-up the the inside of the motor including the piston ring grooves which could actually lower oil use between changes. The use of molasses type additives reduces the oil pumps ability to force a high volume of oil to frictional surfaces at start-up where 80% of all engine wear occurs. When you dump in thick trick stuff the oil does not cool the internal parts of the engine as well as regular low viscosity motor oil. Same holds true when using more antifreeze than necessary. Too much antifreeze doesn't adsorb engine heat as fast or get rid of heat in the radiator.

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