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Hi Patrick,
I researched this a little, since I was very curious about it. I have a theory and a proposed remedy, what do you think about this?
If you look at the CVI catalog (p. 6), there are two types of crankshaft seals, "oil seal type" and "for modern sealing." I emailed CVI, but my suspicion is that the old oil seals are made of either felt or rope. New seals are likely neoprene rubber. Now this theory applies to B18 engines, so if your PV has a B16, its even more likely it has the older felt/rope type seals.
I went to the link someone else provided to a brochure provided by Mobil. They do admit that older seal materials may not be compatible with Mobil 1. While they have adjusted their formulations to include "seal additives" to help gaskets swell and seal, the older felt or rope material will not swell like neoprene (or other rubbers) when exposed to these additives. Somewhere else, I found a statement that synthetics are known to have "cold flow" problems (they are more slippery, viscous, or their lubricity is better than petroleum oils). All this confirms that your gasket/oil combination is likely the problem here.
The good news is: switching back to a petroleum oil (Pennzoil or Castrol GTX high mileage), or possibly one of the syntetics designed for "High Mileage" (Mobil sells one, there is a link someone provided below) will probably solve the leak.
If you try it let me know how it turns out!
I'm doing an oil change myself today, and had to stop my boyfriend from putting Mobil 1 in my B18. I convinced him to use Castrol GTX high mileage 10W-40. I'll let you know if this works. It currently has a very minor drip only.
belinda
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