Best “additive” for valve seals (no way I can afford the labor)

Look I know, I know, additives are snake oil. But I’m in a bit of a pinch, and have no where else to turn at the moment. Taking the bus everyday is WEARING me down ( my city has the worst public transportation, it takes an hour to get to my job that’s 20 minutes away because I have to switch between 2 buses at central)

So it’s looking like my valve seals are shot. I’ve talked to about 50 people and that’s the general consensus. My mechanic isn’t free until Tuesday, I’ll know for sure then. But in the meantime I’m trying to prepare for the worst.

Would like to know if any additives will help me get a few more months out of my truck while I try and save for another one.

I hear Lucas oil stabilizer would help out but that’s just hearsay from a guy at AutoZone.

I just need a few more months out of the truck while I save up for another one. I’m open to any and all suggestions.

 

I've heard good things about

$15 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205 for rejuvenating dried out seals. Not expensive and doesn't act in the same way as some other potions that just swell the seals. Hoping others will chime in.

 

Funny thing is, 3 days after I drained my oil that had

$15 AT205 ATP Automotive AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT205 in it THIS happened. I honestly don’t know if it could cause all this damn smoke I’m seeing appear at random times or not but I’m definitely questioning my decision.

 

So wait, just so others can chime in here…

You had no smoke.

Someone (who?) put

$15 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205 in it (why? How many miles ago?) b

Someone (who?) changed the oil (with what weight/type of oil? Any other additives?)

After 3 days from that oil change (and how many trips/miles?), the truck suddenly started blowing lots of smoke at startup?

The amount and condition of the oil residue on the plug you showed us looks months of residual oil. Or like someone dunked the plug in used oil before taking the pic.

 

I put a 205 in my oil crank case because I was having a rear main seal leak I believe. I drove about 500 miles with the AT 205 in my oil and decided to change it because it was due for an oil change anyway pretty soon. I did an oil change topped off my fluid with brand new oil myself like I always do my oil changes for the past seven years. I didn’t do anything different this time except I use a different brand of oil, penzoil, because of a project farm video I saw raving about how great this oil was. I usually run mobile one but decided to give this a try
I drove roughly 3 days for about 100-150 miles somewhere in between that.

EDIT forgot to add, that the very first time the smoke appeared was while driving down the interstate going about 75mph, the smoke show lasted for about a full entire minute of THICK white smoke. I thought snoop dog crawled up in my exhaust and was having a party

 

You've had so many posts, and started so many threads about this same problem, it's really hard to make any sense of it. I could be wrong about this, but white smoke generally indicates coolant is entering the combustion chamber. Numerous potential causes such as blown head gaskets, cracked block, or a damaged cylinder water jacket. If you had blue smoke, that could indicate leaking valve seals or worn piston rings. You said you have good compression, so we can rule out the latter, and probably the former due to smoke color. And finally the last color of smoke being black. That would indicate an overly rich fuel/air mixture. I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, and yes additives are generally snake oil. I would really be concerned about all of the things I listed that white smoke is symptomatic of. Sorry to be the bearer of potentially bad news.

 

I know, and I really apologize. My mechanic isn’t available until Tuesday and right now my whole world is being rocked because my only means of transportation is slipping away when I thought me buying a sequoia meant I’d have a reliable car for a minimum of 10 years. I did everything right, stayed on top of maintenance and this still happened.

I guess I’m freaking out a bit now. I’m not in the position to afford an expensive repair or another vehicle. It just is hard for me to not ask a million questions between now and Tuesday just hoping I find out the true issue.

sounds like I’m pretty much screwed at this point and it’s going to be a really hard next few months if the car breaks down before I can afford a new (used one)

im just shocked, I did months of research on different Toyotas and chose the 2UZ-FE because of all the stories of it being a Superman of an engine. I never saw this coming

 

Was there ever an overheating event that you know of?

 

Just run a good synthetic high mileage oil.

The high-mileage oils have seal conditioners (ester based oils) to help old seals.

I would run a high mileage oil before using additives. Leaking seals are not the end of the world. Far better problem to have than stuck rings

 

Are you 100 percent sure your oil level is between the marks where it should be? Any chance there's too much oil in it?

 

It’s exactly where it should be, I’ve checked now over and over again.

i just dropped my car off at a mechanic today and he’s saying he thinks it’s a head gasket, but how can that be when the liquid stayed blue during a combustion test.? Ran it twice just to be sure a few days apart.

anyways if it’s a blown head gasket, and the car isn’t over heating. What would the best head gasket sealer be? There’s so many options and I promise I wish I had the money but I simply don’t to repair it, I really have NO other options but this. Put in a sealer while I save money for a new car for the next few months.

 

I'd be very skeptical of it being a head gasket if your coolant level isn't changing and your oil level is staying consistent as well.

Is your mechanic guy guessing or did he present some good evidence to you? I've heard that K-seal is one of the decent sealers to use, however they can all block coolant passageways and cause more issues down the road. Only do this if you have no other options.

I'd want some proof before I'd commit to the head gasket being the problem. Head gasket issues aren't super common on these.

 

It's VERY RARELY the rear main seal. It's MORE COMMONLY a valve cover leak. However, that doesn't explain your current condition.

This is also true.

The only way to 100% confirm this (if in fact a proper compression and leak down test was performed) is to find evidence of coolant mixing with oil, i.e. In the oil pan itself, in the coolant (radiator) itself or with an engine teardown. Being that you said you changed the oil recently, you would have seen evidence of it there. Next, check the coolant in the radiator.

 

Listen to this guy ^^ he's been there and done that, replaced his rear main seal ("RMS") when it wasn't necessary.

That said, @Dakillacore looks to potentially have a RMS leak right now. At least Toyota mechs are telling him that. So YMMV.

 

Unfortunately, it does appear to be the RMS in my case. I had 2 different places inspect (Stealership and a Toyota mechanic) and both confirmed. I have had the valve cover gasket replaced, oil filter housing o-ring, crankshaft seal/cam seals(both replaced as part of the timing belt job), even replaced a VVTI solenoid that had oil leaking around it. After all of this I still have minor drippage at the trans case. I may be the one with the bad luck in the crew with this leak.


Not my truck, bit this is the exact leak that my truck is showing.

 

As Shifty states, it could be leaking from the back of the valve covers. Take a mirror and look back there. Also you can remove the inspection cover from your bell housing to inspect for oil leak in there from the rear main seal. As shift notes, our trucks RARELY leak at the rear main seal. If you confirm that is your leak, then first try some

$15 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205

 

See reply #3 https://www.tundras.com/threads/bes...y-i-can-afford-the-labor.156833/#post-3887401

 

Maybe or maybe not related . . . several years ago before i found this forum , I ran an oil change with the correct amount of Lucas oil Synthetic Oil Stabilizer in my last 2003 Tundra with a V6.
I didn't like how much the oil pressure increased, it was very significant . . . I triple checked the volume, or 'amount' I put in thinking I may had over-filled it. Nope. Right on the mark on the dip stick. I ran it for a few days before I could change it . . . and when I did the oil in the drain pan looked really odd . . . like the Lucas stuff hadn't mixed well with the synthetic oil . . . really odd color as well . . . like one of those foofy decorated coffee drinks.

Pulled the oil filter and did a standard oil change and never had a problem.
Maybe that stuff works in the right situation . . . but it wasn't for my truck in it's state at that time.