Think I Found The Other Oil Leak

[HondaBoy]

ok, so i'd first found the oil leak from the distributor. i ordered the O ring and its somewhat a special order for the dealership. i havent got that yet. they told me check tomorrow. but i'd noticed theres another oil leak on the other side of the engine the the belts are on. i've never been able to see much so today i got my halogen work light under the car and checked things out. damn that things hot! i thought it was the down pipe, but it was the light. anyway, i looked at the front of the engine and it was pretty dry of oil, that was good. i've noticed when i worked under the car many times before that there is always oil on the lower timing belt cover. my first thought was that its the front seal on the crank. but then there wasnt any oil on the timing belt when i changed it out. so i looked at where the oil filter is butted up to the engine, that was dry and all around it was dry. i found that theres oil collecting around the oil pan by the bolts. i think thats it because its the original one and nothing else i can find. i did see that the breather hose on the oil pan is oil soaked. maybe its clogged somehow? i'd be willing to replace that before i tear other stuff apart. the oil pan gasket set was about $14, so i'll be getting that too i think. these mysterious oil leaks suck ass! i know other members know what im talking about. also i'd had some worries about the oil pump gasket thing on the outside of the engine. i dont think thats it though. so if you've got this problem theres some things you can check as i did. i'm going to see about replacing the oil pan gasket, hope i dont have to take the center beam out. maybe i can jostle the pan out. any suggestions about how to change the oil pan gasket easily without much trouble?

[nswst8]

The oil filter screws into a base that bolts to the engine block, the oil pressure sending unit also screws in the top. The seal is $4 at the dealership.
Hope this helps.
NSWST8

[Mac]

I think it would make it easier if you take off the crossmember. It's just a few bolts and it will be out of the way. Also removing the exhaust flex pipe from the manifold makes it easier. Just spray the nuts with PB Baster first and let it soak in. You might want to soak them a few times before trying to remove the nuts. Be careful not to snap the studs. And there is an access cover plate on the passenger side of the oil pan by the flywheel that can be removed before you drop the oil pan.

[smufguy]

The belt side is usually because of the cam seal wearing out often. For the distributor. i juse used the gasket maker and made a line around the mating faces of the dist and the head. Not a drop of oil leaked in 5000 miles yet. I should be replacing the cam seal soon. NOt too much leak, but like everyone else, i hate oil leaks, despite it being a 16 year old car.

[cubert]

and here i am..still going through a quart a day...i really need to figure out where its coming from...my breather tube seems soaked too...i guess ill find out...unless i get a new car first

[Vinny]

Don't even go there in the hate oil leaks Praveen. I have EVERY seal and O ring known to Honda all in a nice new Honda box in the garage. They all go in this weekend. Both crank seals, cam seal, Dist O ring, pan gasket, filter housing gasket, breather gasket, breather to pan tubing, Valve cover gasket and grommets, PS pump O ring and a few others. What a Joy all this will be

[HondaBoy]

sounds good to me Vinny, might as well take care of everything at one instead of having to do it all another time. i was wondering about the cross beam. it looks pretty much strait foward on how to take it off, but does it hold the engine or tranny up at all, i really dont ever look at it. if not, then i'll just take it off when i do the oil pan seal. as for the down pipe, i didnt want to have to put a new gasket on it after taking it off. although, my repair manual says to unbolt it from its braket and from the manifold and swing it out of hte way. i suppose this will give more room for less error. im pretty sure it has to be the oil pan gasket. nothing else was soaked with oil above it. i've been thinking about putting an oil cooler on. can anyone suggest a good one? i know they sell em at all the parts stores, but i would want a good one that does more than detour the oil. lol. the oil pan gasket set is about $14 by felpro, the are know for good head gaskets i know. oil level is doing good though, hope that keeps up!

[Vinny]

I've changed about 10 pan gaskets on 3rd gens so I got it to a science. Make sure ya have new Crush seals/Exhaust seals, you'll need em. the sedan doesn't have any at all, yet another part I had to order. The crossmember doesn't do alot, 4 bolts up fron and 3 in the rear. Unblot and it drops right down. You have to drop the flywheel cover as well. Careful theres one bolt on the VERY op on the back side, accross from the top of the breather chamber. If ya don't get it loose or off the cover aint commin off. I pullthe ENTIRE downpipe so its out of the way. Make sure you have either a dish soap mixture, castrol superclean or somthing along those lines to clean everything up.. Also might wanna get some spray gasket remover, sometimes the gasket is BAKED to the pan. And a decent sraper, I use a phenolic that I sharpened or a sharpened piece of plexiglass that way it doesn't cut into the metal like a blade scraper. I also silicone the whole pan, not the corners like the book saus. May be fine fopr them to do the corners alone I like to do the whole thing. Its not too bad really. Need anything holler. I'll be on at night while I'm doing all the sedan work

[smufguy]

Don't even go there in the hate oil leaks Praveen. I have EVERY seal and O ring known to Honda all in a nice new Honda box in the garage. They all go in this weekend. Both crank seals, cam seal, Dist O ring, pan gasket, filter housing gasket, breather gasket, breather to pan tubing, Valve cover gasket and grommets, PS pump O ring and a few others. What a Joy all this will be

hehehehehe, i know i wont be smiling if i was changing them. I am sooooooo glad i dont have time or a severe case of it. so that i dont have to worry about it now.

[AccordEpicenter]

honda oil pan gaskets are best, and you should only need to hondabond it over the bumps in the gasket/pan... then they dont leak

[HondaBoy]

i went with felpro. also got the RTV sealant. gotta have that of course. i dont want to go throught what im having to go through with the distributor O ring. they said today that it was still shipping or something. it was cross shipped, dont know exactly what that ment, i guess they had to order from another supplier. anyway, thats being a bitch to get. so tomorrow i hope to get that oil pan gasket put on. i know im tired of this oil leaking on my driveway. also its getting worse as its getting warmer outside. luckly i dont have it so bad as to keep haveing to top off the oil, it stays about right. anyway, i will have to get some oil too, shit! i changed the oil less than 1000 miles ago. i'll be getting to that maybe in the morning. its supposed to be raining all day so the garage is where i'll have to work. hopefully it wont flood like it did last week, it rained a lot. oh, and im picking up the flange gasket for the down pipe thing because its gotta be move out the way to access the oil pan. i was thinking of getting another pan, but i dont think i will now. im going to see first if this one is strait because its possible its warped. i'll check it with a strait edge.

[HondaBoy]

shit, didnt get to do the oil pan today. i did fix my brakes. gotta have to fixed before i can drive it right? well im going to need to buy some oil, so thats more money i gotta spend. i think i'll see if Wal-mart sells Castrol that i use for less than the other auto parts stores. if so, i'll buy it there. i really hope so because im really doing everything on a small ass budget! got my exhaust flange gasket this morning. its felpro also. i wonder if i can ever reuse the gasket if i need to take it off after bolting things up. i'll probley bolt the exhaust together with the old gasket at first to make sure theres no leaks. thats a good idea i guess. then i can put the new one on if theres no oil leaking. ha, maybe i should run an open manifold. nah.

[HondaBoy]

well, i worked my ass off doing this. disassembly of the parts was mostly the bitch. had to take the center beam off, exhaust pipe that connects to the manifold, and the oil pan. the hardest was the oil pan. the center beam was pretty simple. the exhaust pipe wasnt as hard as some have told me it would be. i sprayed a little penetrating oil on them, and they basically came off pretty good. getting the oil pan off was a bitch! that thing was stuck on like you wouldnt believe. i tapped around the edges so many times i cant even remember. finally i decided to say screw this. i got the thinnest and shortest screw drive i had. i pushed it carefully between the old gasket. it finally worked out. well to my amazement, the internals of the engine were cleaner than the out side of it! that gasket was gone. it was like hard old plastic that was very brittle. some pieces were stuck onto the pan and parts of the block. i cleaned it up before putting the new gasket on. after all that shit, i started it after putting new oil in, and the bastard leaked! i was all fuckin upset cuz i was tired and shit. so today i finally looked at it. i checked and tightened some of the bolts with the torque wrench. also the oil breather was leaking. i fixed that and now its not even leaking! today i did let it get to operating temp, so i think thats all it needed. i let it run and then drove it around and kept checking and not a leak! so i hope thats the end of working on the under side! i'd much rather work on the top half anyday than the bottom. man, i thought i was going to need to take that shit apart again.

[FerretGirl]

Hey Vinny, since you have this down to a science, the book says you have to hoist the engine a little to get the pressure off to take the crossmember off. Is there a way around the hoisting part?? I'm not equipped for that! I know I need a new pan gasket, and would prefer to do it myself, but if there's hoisting, I'll have to pay someone else for that. Thanks!

[mouchyn]

you don't need to hoist the engine at all. the crossmember drops right off. The other engine mounts hold the engine up.

on my 3g accords, there isn't ANY pressure on that rubber on the cross member. you can push on the rubber and it bends easily. I think it's only there as an auxilary support -- in case one of the other mounts gives up, or something.

i just put a freshly rebuilt a20a3 into my accord and the brand new oil pan gasket leaks. I'm pretty upset about it. It leaks right on a corner.

[FerretGirl]

Thanks, for the info. I'm so tired of this darn thing leaking. It ran so nicely the first two weeks after I bought it. Then I blew the o-ring on the oil filter, who knows how. And now I have oil leaking from everywhere, well it seems like it anyway. At least I'm not the only one! I'll probably crawl under there this weekend and get dirty. I've been tilling my new lawn for the past two days, though, so I might just put the car off some more! Ha ha. Good luck with yours... hope you don't have to redo the whole thing just to get that corner. Should be a way to just squeeze some goo into there and keep it!

[Vinny]

I replied to your email I hope the info I gave you helps. Try taking some simple green and spaying the entire engine and transmission down and take a pressure washer (car wash works too) to it to get a good idea where its leaking from. Mioght not be as severe as you think.

[FerretGirl]

Thanks Vinny, I know the plug is leaking, and that's the major leak... I replaced the washer with a copper one because I heard they stop leaks great... yeah right. Anyway, the only reason I know I need the gasket is because every one of the bolts to the pan was loose, and as I tightened them all, I could just feel that the gasket was being squished to nothingness. It's not really leaking from there, more like seeping... just figured I should replace it sometime soon. Not sure what I"ll do with the damn plug. The old washer didn't leak, so maybe I"ll just put it back on... Honda just recommended putting a new one on when I changed my oil.

[smufguy]

using a crush washer is a good idea, and all the filters from honda come with it. I dont use one and it never leaks. To change the oil pan gasket, I would removed the bolts that hold the brackets from the engine block and just loosen the side mount and use a regular hydraulic jack and use it on the transmission side and jack it up till i have enough room to work around. I have not changed an oil pan gaseket yet and luckily its not leaking on mine, but i bet with the car on jacks and the transmission lifted up a lil, u might have some room to work around.

[FerretGirl]

I don't know what a crush washer is, but I imagine that's what was on it before. When I went to Honda for the new oil filter and gasket before, they gave me a steel washer and said be sure to change it. That think leaked like mad. So then I went to a parts store and the kid said he swears by these copper washers. Whatever, that thing leaks like mad too. But today as I was doing something in the driveway, I found the original washer lying there amidst all the oil and kitty litter!! HA ha... my driveway is so ghetto with all the oil and litter trying to soak up the oil. Pretty sad.

[FerretGirl]

Finally got around to getting the oil pan gasket. Since I bought the oil filter base gasket and never ended up changing it because it was just the filter, I think I'll do that today too just for the fun of it. Why does it always rain when I have to get under my car?? I think I"ll run over to the car wash and hose the crap out of the underside so I can get some of the oil off before I remove the pan and everything. I decided the old girl definitely doesn't like driving over the mountains. Going over and back was what caused my oil filter to blow. Then I just had the mild leak and went back over the mountains and back, and now I"m blowing so much oil it isn't even funny anymore. Although, I did fix the electrical issues I was having by changing the ends of the battery cables. Amazing, now even the dial on my radio lights up! I thought it just didn't work, but now that I have prime battery connection, I guess it does work.