I have a 1997 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with 104100-ish miles and a 6 speed manual transmission. I have an oil leak somewhere. I suspect it is either the rear main seal, because it is appearing around the transmission, or somewhere around that area. Somewhere it will be difficult and time consuming to tackle. I did see Scotty's video on the neon dye you can pour into the engine to see where the leak is coming from. However, I watched Scotty's video from 11 years ago on the AT-205 reseal. Is that reseal still something I can use, and is that the best one that Scotty advocates?
AT-205 is a band aid, not the ideal solution.
With that said, it’s a damn good band aid.
I used AT-205 on my Honda Accord 1999 when I found an oil leak. Following the directions on the bottle. After about a day, it didn’t seem to do much. It still leaked. But over the course of a week, the leak got less and less, and eventually disappeared.
I know I will have to replace the seals eventually, but this buys me some time.
I don’t know how bad your leak is. IMHO, it is worth a shot because it doesn’t hurt anything.
I put mine in right after a fresh oil change. And it worked wonders.
it's probably too late for at205, and it's not available anyway.
You've got a sexy, low mileage, muscle car. Don't you think it deserves a new seal?
Well I would like to give it a try. I see the re-seal on amazon in stock. I am not made of money nor time, especially after my funds dried up and after going through agony over the fuel pump and sending unit. If that reseal can fix something I do not want to mess with right now, then it is going to happen. This hotshot muscle car deserves alot of things I cannot give. Only over time, a verrryyyy long time, will it get some the stuff it wants and needs. It is my only transportation, so I will do what is necessary to keep it on the road.
I recently had a similar situation to yours. A small rear main seal leak that showed up after switching from conventional oil to synthetic blend. Following Scotty's advice I switched back to conventional oil and added a bottle of AT-205. After two weeks and 220+ miles I have not seen any oil drops on the white poster board I keep under the car. I am simply amazed. Give it a try. I'm not sure if it was the conventional oil, the AT-205 or a combination of the two but so far so good. Like you I would rather defer the cost of pulling the transmission to replace the rear main seal until a clutch replacement is needed. That could years from now or never since the car is no longer a daily driver.
On the other hand, if the rear main seal continues to leak or gets worse, oil could get on the clutch components causing slip and precipitate the need for replacement.
Your biggest problem will be getting the AT-205. Everyone is sold out thanks to Mr. Kilmer singing it's praise so often. I was fortunate to have two bottles on hand I bought back in June. I wonder if those double the normal price bottles I see on Amazon are really available. They were on there back in June at that price when I bought the last two bottles NAPA had. Good luck to you. If you do try I would be interested to know how it works.
