Mystery Oil Leak

[Oldblueaccord]

Cant help with the bolts.

I think we got that same make your own O ring kit at work and it seems to work really well. if it doesnt Im sure we can get you that O ring here stateside and swim it over.


Careful with the coolant pipe that runs accross the back of the motor its not available and I havent see any one make anykind of replacement. maybe cleaned the outside up and paint it.

Clean clean clean what you can and try and paint what you can even in the cold and all.

[Sandwich]

you've got me thinking now... i could take the base back off and clean up the area as you say. What do you mean by clean up, is there a method you would use? I noticed lots of small bit of rust on all sorts of different bits round there, components and body bits, nothing severe but maybe i should make this job even bigger and really future proof, I've never done this before though so am open to guidance.

As for the pipe in particular, I do actually have another by chance, will keep ahold of it.

Thanks blue.

[Oldblueaccord]

Sandpaper,scotch brite and elbow grease. If you have air tools even better. Anyway you can get rid of rust so it doesnt spread is a good thing.

de grease, primer and paint. I know its cold where your at but if you keep spray cans at room temperature and then take them outside and use them that will help paint stick and dry pretty well. We have Rustolum brand paint in cans for metal you brush on its pretty good.

All out remove all the parts and get them sandblasted and powder coated.


EDIT: also I cant remember if I wrote this but here stateside our cars dont have that oil cooler/warmer thing so if it starts giving you a fit you could pitch it I would think. Cool little item anyway.

[ShiRen]

Miatas have the same kind of oil warmer, it is tradition to bypass the throttle body coolant and oil warmer when you do cooling mods on those cars, so that is what I did this weekend. Yeah... feel free to pitch that thing.

[Sandwich]

Alright big job just got even bigger, got some paint and sandpaper on the way so gonna clean up all the bits I didnt like the look of down there, especially that pipe. Any tips I should know before taking that pipe out?

Will keep the warmer on for the meantime unless it gives me more problems.

Cheers.

[Oldblueaccord]

Im not sure I would disturb it just clean it up on car best you can and anything else you can under there. I think how it seals to the water pump housing could be really weak.

[Sandwich]

That's exactly the kinda tip I was looking for, cheers Blue.

Will update when the rain ceases.

[Dr_Snooz]

Yeah, best not to mess with the coolant pipe. It's really thin metal right where it connects to the water pump housing. After 30 years and neglected coolant flushes, there's not much metal left. Even if it leaks, I'd say smear around the outside of it with RTV. That's what I've done with mine.

[Sandwich]

Got the oil filter base on and started on cleaning up the engine block for the new gasket and pan to go on. Took me a while getting the stuck gasket & sealant off. 2 questions I got:

Is it clean enough? I recorded what it looks like here:
Shared album - theo jones - Google Photos

How much sealant am I putting on? everywhere I've read says only a little on the corners, yet from what it looks like theres a decent bit more than that on there originally:
Shared album - theo jones - Google Photos

tomorrow is the big day! let me know if you got any other tips for the oil pan, gonna hold the gasket on with some mini zip ties I got like your sewing thread trick blue.

Cheers.

[Oldblueaccord]

All looks good to me.

The thread trick is so you can put bolts in the holes that have been thread in them and pull it out before you tighten everything up.

[Sandwich]

What do you think about the quantity of sealant? really unsure if any at all vs. a little in the corners vs spread thinly but along curved sections etc. ... both sides too?

Also, im unsure what to torque to, so far I got
7 ft-lbs = 9.5 Nm
10 ft-lbs = 13.5 Nm

I have a torque wrench and wont be going tight tight. gonna tighten bolts in x pattern from inside out too.

would be nice if the shop manual had a page on this!

[Sandwich]

you know, it doesn't matter, the ATP pan I got has a catastrophic positioning problem for the pipe that goes into it, about 5 mm closer to the centre, now means it wont fit between the gap in the baffle plate, and even if it did it would then likely collide with the crank. if you can't tell im pretty pissed off, been going at this job for 2 months for this to finally crop up..

[Oldblueaccord]

That's weird it won't fit. Mine was a Spectra...I think and it wasn't made well it needed to be spread some for the front and rear bolt holes to line up.

The PVC pipe is the worse part of that job getting it slide on while pushing the pan on.

Now on the EFI models they do have a windage tray on the crank maybe the carbs dont.

Torque 10 ft lbs sounds OK most torque wrenches aren't acurate at that low.

Sealant I just do the parts where the round meets the flat on the ends of of the pan.

[Sandwich]

Ok calmed down and investigated, the PVC pipe seems to be ~10mm closer to centre than the pan I've got, otherwise they match pretty well.

on the rockauto website the compatibility is with carbs & EFI, may be wrong but I'd hope that would be accurate. I'm worried its because I have an A20A4 and that may be different to US spec, I remember the part numbers were different by one number, gonna call Honda to check on Monday. (they dont have it in stock annoyingly)

I'm considering removing that baffle plate and cutting room in it for the pipe, just unsure if the pipe would be too close to the crank and/or anything else moving. I've got some photos of crank lineup and the pan compared to the old one, so will study those: Shared album - theo jones - Google Photos

Have any of you got an old stock pan lying around you can measure for me? I'm keen to see the distance of the pipe to the outside, if its the same as my old one (UK spec) or the same as the new one.

Big job... just got bigger...

edit: From the photos I took, I have the PCV pipe positioning to be approximately 2mm closer to the centre than the baffle cutout actually allows, need to figure out if this in line with anything spinning, and then may try bending the pipe and/or cutting the baffle plate to allow this. if it's too edgy gonna have to buy another one.

[ShiRen]

Honestly I dont see any issue with notching the pan or cutting a lot off the pcv pipe on the inside

[Oldblueaccord]

Ok calmed down and investigated, the PVC pipe seems to be ~10mm closer to centre than the pan I've got, otherwise they match pretty well.

on the rockauto website the compatibility is with carbs & EFI, may be wrong but I'd hope that would be accurate. I'm worried its because I have an A20A4 and that may be different to US spec, I remember the part numbers were different by one number, gonna call Honda to check on Monday. (they dont have it in stock annoyingly)

I'm considering removing that baffle plate and cutting room in it for the pipe, just unsure if the pipe would be too close to the crank and/or anything else moving. I've got some photos of crank lineup and the pan compared to the old one, so will study those: Shared album - theo jones - Google Photos

Have any of you got an old stock pan lying around you can measure for me? I'm keen to see the distance of the pipe to the outside, if its the same as my old one (UK spec) or the same as the new one.

Big job... just got bigger...

edit: From the photos I took, I have the PCV pipe positioning to be approximately 2mm closer to the centre than the baffle cutout actually allows, need to figure out if this in line with anything spinning, and then may try bending the pipe and/or cutting the baffle plate to allow this. if it's too edgy gonna have to buy another one.

I think I would mess with the pipe before the windage tray but I dont think it matter much.

Like you said make sure it doesnt hit the crank is all.

[Dr_Snooz]

Yeah, just make it work. All that pipe does is dribble oil back into the pan.

I know what you mean though. It seems like any time I buy parts from Rock Auto, the job always turns into a big nightmare.

[Sandwich]

Okay, nice one thanks for that guys, wasnt sure how much pressure it carried, but confident to give it a good bend now, failing that, chop it off. Will let you know how I get on.

I know what you mean though. It seems like any time I buy parts from Rock Auto, the job always turns into a big nightmare.

haha...jobs would be too easy if this kinda crap didnt come up

will let you know how I get on, depends if its raining this weekend

[Sandwich]

bought an angle grinder at toolstation and got cracking.

Plan A to precise cut and then bend quickly went out the window, not much precision going on. (this method How to Bend Thick Metal Without Traditional Tools - Kevin Caron - YouTube)



Plan B to chop the whole inner section of the pipe off went a treat though.



very ghetto daisy chaining power cords out the porch but it worked and my neighbours didnt seem too fussed.

[Oldblueaccord]

Clean it up and your ready to roll I think.