Oil Leak

[NC 85 3Door]

My commute is about 15 miles each direction. While sitting at a red light the last three days, the burning oil smell was rather strong. One day it even featured some lovely white smoke coming through my air vents. Sweet! I'm all for huffing gas, but inhaling white burned up oil smoke isn't as much fun.

Here the deal, my car drives great, I check the oil every two days and I very rarely have to add any. It never leaves a spot on the driveway bigger than three or four inches and that isn't consistent either. I don't think it's a big deal, but I'd rather not drive the motor into the ground since it already has 246,921 miles on it. Should I look into it or keep on enjoying the occasional aroma? Oh, it's an ES2.

[2ndGenGuy]

It's probably leaking from the oil filter baseplate, then running down the back of your engine block, and dripping onto your exhaust. Mine did that for YEARS. Only a drip or two at a time, so oil never really got that low. The gasket to fix it is cheap, but it's a bitch to try to get to the oil filter baseplate and unbolt it. It's held on by 3 bolts. If you take your oil filter off you'll see it. It's part number 3 in this diagram. I do believe the Honda dealer still sells them.



Honda part number: 15205-PC6-014

As long as you check the oil and keep the level up, and still change it at regular intervals, you will be fine. The leak itself won't hurt a thing.

[accord83]

White smoke? if you were driving past the Vatican I would suggest that there is a new Pope!! (That reply nearly cost me my vehicle examiners oral exam many years ago!!)
Failing that, as 2ndGenGuy suggests, look for oil staining near to the exhaust.

[2ndGenGuy]

Oh white smoke, I missed that part. How often do you check your coolant? How's the level looking in there?

[NC 85 3Door]

I'll b e damned. Coolant was low. Almost down to the MIN. I filled the son of a bitch up. Good thus far. I'll keep you posted. Thanks a ton.

[2ndGenGuy]

Sounds like you might have a leaky heater core then. Check that coolant often, if it gets too low, you'll overheat and warp that head.

[NC 85 3Door]

I filled the coolant up and two days later it's down to half full so you're probably right about the heater core. The smell is back when I'm at a red light, but no smoke. When I got to work this morning, I noticed a little bit of the white smoke coming from the front of the hood, but I was a few minutes late to work so I didn't open her up and see. Stay tuned..... Oh, and the temp guage hasn't been anywhere near hot. The car is driving perfectly.

[2ndGenGuy]

Ok then, we're getting close to finding the problem. You might just have a leaky hose inside the engine compartment that feeds your heater core. Check around up by the two lines that feed the firewall. That would makes sense that they would be dripping down and running onto your exhaust pipe and burning off. I would check and replace those long before I go digging into the heater core. The water could run right up through the firewall along those heater core pipes and get inside and steam up your car too.

[NC 85 3Door]

I've been driving my pickup the last few days since I had to haul some stuff for a friend(it's leaking coolant, too. Ha! My wife hates me but I'm too cheap to buy a new car and I love my 2gee too much...anyway) so I hopped back in the 2gee Saturday. The level was good and has been steady for the last three days of driving it. The smell is gone thus far. Oh well. I'll keep driving it. I'm really not worried about the oil leak. I realize it's not ideal, but I've never had to add any oil to it and the car runs great.

I really appreciate ya'll's advice. Eventually I'll be able to figure stuff out myself. I'm going to try and replace the front brake pads next week. Never done it before so we'll see how it goes!

[accord83]

Good luck with the brake pads, but it's not 'how it goes' you have to worry about.....But how it stops!

[Christofur]

Good luck with the brake pads, but it's not 'how it goes' you have to worry about.....But how it stops!