Are oil ';stop leak'; products beneficial or damaging to your vehicle?

I have a oil leak in my car...I do not know where the leak originates from however I have in the past seen a few oil ';stop leak'; products...please advise me....do they work, or are they ineffective and will damage my vehicle.





Thank you for your much needed advise on this question. Are oil ';stop leak'; products beneficial or damaging to your vehicle?
I've used those products in the past on several vehicles with great results.If a rubber seal is worn and becoming hard the conditioner will swell and soften permanently.It can't hurt anything.This is one thing that many of us have been told is not good to use,I don't believe that. Are oil ';stop leak'; products beneficial or damaging to your vehicle?



On the average, they only swell seals or block certain leaks, which


sometimes blocks important oil passages as well. Your best bet


is to get under the vehicle and track down the leak. It's a good chance


it may just be a valve cover leaking down or something small. If it


is a bigger problem like a rear main seal or oil pan gasket, the leak


stop products are only putting a temporary band aid on it, and that's


if it even works at all. My personal experience with the oil leak stops


is.... forget about it ! Find your leak if you plan on keeping your car.





Good Luck to you
I am not sure if those ';stop leak'; products it's really beneficial or more damaging. The first thing is to find out where/what is leaking, I personally would take the car to a mechanic and get it fix. Normally it's just a oil-seal, o-ring, or gasket that has done it's days.
i don,t think they will harm the engine but that stuff is only temporary. about the only true way of fixing a leak is change the gaskets or 0-rings.
they are a waste of money and sometimes a temporary fix that can do more damage than their worth, just bite the bullet and get it fixed right.
Kev said it as well as I could - have the leak properly repaired.