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Car leaks oil when it’s running, but not when it’s off. I’m getting ready to do the timing belt on my car because it’s WAY past due and am wondering what seals are there to replace? Since I’m going to be in there I figured I’d replace them all rather than just whichever ones are leaking. I’ve already replaced the PCV valve and done the seals in these 2 pics:
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I’ve checked the oil filter and there is no oil on top of it, which mean the pressure sender right above it is ok (known for going bad on this vintage of Honda). I’ve taken a few pics of the oil on the engine but am only going to post the following one with the oil drips on the cardboard just to give you an idea:
Oil drips
If you’d like to see the other pics then feel free to ask. But mainly just looking to replace all the seals but don’t know how many there are or what they are called. Thanks!
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Even IF the crank seal isn’t leaking it’s probably still a good idea to replace it while I’m in there so that I won’t have to do it in the near future. Although this seal may or may not be bad, I don’t think it would cause all the oil spots in the pic. The big puddle is the obvious one but the tiny ones all across the cardboard are also oil drips that only occur when the engine is running. When I got my brakes looked at a couple months ago, the guy noticed the oil leak and said it was probably from my valve cover gasket (VCG for short), but by then I had already replaced that so it shouldn’t have been leaking. It’s also dripping down my oil pan, which is the left side of the car. But what could be causing it to leak on the right side and in the middle as well? My reason for removing the VCG at the time was due to oil in my spark plug wells, and I used ETCG’s video “Spark Plug Well Oil Leak Fix, Honda Accord – EricTheCarGuy” to do it (great video BTW). Is it possible that I didn’t put something back right when I did it? I do appear to have oil spots around the VCG that could indicate this, but can’t remember if they were there prior to the install. I’ll post pics either way.
Yellow is where my belt is. Red is where the drip hits before hitting the ground.
Oil drips in red.
Please feel free to ask questions.
How is the oil pan gasket? It certainly looks like the oil draining down the sides is either the valve cover gasket, the head gasket or the oil pan. But it’s not a bad idea to do the cam and crank seals along with the timing belt.
Lookin good under there for a 93. I’d check the oil pan gasket first or if more adventurous, check your oil pressure. Then move to the crankshaft seal. My Toyota was leaking bad from the crank before replaced. Now it shoots minor reminders from a worn oil pan gasket.
[quote=”Timothy S” post=164590]How is the oil pan gasket? It certainly looks like the oil draining down the sides is either the valve cover gasket, the head gasket or the oil pan. But it’s not a bad idea to do the cam and crank seals along with the timing belt.[/quote]
Shouldn’t be the valve cover gasket. As I said I recently replaced it (4 months ago) and bought the parts directly from the Honda dealership; so it’s not aftermarket. Could check again tho. Don’t know how good any of the other seals on this car are. Got the car a year and a half ago but am certain that none of them have ever been replaced (personally knew the previous owner and he wasn’t mechanically inclined). Only recently started learning how to fix my car so don’t know a lot yet. But bought some engine degreaser to clean the oil off the engine block and other areas and will try to better pinpoint a location.
After doing some research it COULD be the head gasket. My car has nearly overheated a couple of times (almost red-lining) but usually it stays at about the half mark. Maybe during one of those times it warped the head gasket? Don’t have the ability to perform a leak down test. Will start with the degreaser method and go from there.
Also, if I should sound like I know what I’m doing, rest assured I don’t. I’m looking stuff up as I go along. :silly:
[quote=”creativepotato” post=164601]Lookin good under there for a 93.[/quote]
Thanks! :cheer: Currently living in New York and the car came up from Rhode Island at the end of 2003. RI doesn’t use salt like NY does so there was pretty much no issue with rust. But the previous owner was retired so he didn’t drive much even after moving up here.
On my 1999 4 cylinder Accord I had oil pump seal leaking. I believe your 93 is similar.
Good luck,
SamUPDATE: I have yet to fix the leaking oil issue (or do the timing belt). Fortunately I live close enough to work that I can walk there in about 3 minutes, so needless to say I don’t drive much at all (about 2,200 miles a year) and haven’t lost much oil. However, I do have a leak detection dye that I was planning on using to identify the location of the leak. But recently I’ve been thinking of just doing an oil change and adding in some oil stop leak. I know it’s a controversial subject as to how beneficial it is to use stuff like that but I’m just trying to get the car to last a couple more years and make it worth the $1,200+ that I’ve put into it in less than 2 years time. Should I use the dye first so that at least I KNOW where the problem is, then use the stop leak, or just forego the dye altogether? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I tend not to use those stop leak remedies. Eric did and episode on them to.
I would wash the engine then go for a drive to pin point the leak. It might only be leaking from one place at the little drops are oil running along mountings and such. Clean the engine and start looking from the top down.[quote=”xavier_sb” post=170296]UPDATE: I have yet to fix the leaking oil issue (or do the timing belt). Fortunately I live close enough to work that I can walk there in about 3 minutes, so needless to say I don’t drive much at all (about 2,200 miles a year) and haven’t lost much oil. However, I do have a leak detection dye that I was planning on using to identify the location of the leak. But recently I’ve been thinking of just doing an oil change and adding in some oil stop leak. I know it’s a controversial subject as to how beneficial it is to use stuff like that but I’m just trying to get the car to last a couple more years and make it worth the $1,200+ that I’ve put into it in less than 2 years time. Should I use the dye first so that at least I KNOW where the problem is, then use the stop leak, or just forego the dye altogether? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks![/quote]
That isn’t how it works. On something this old, you bite the bullet and swallow repair and maintenance costs, or you go shopping for something in better shape.
Don’t use leak stoppers. Get the repair done properly.
[quote=”Gazza” post=170298]I tend not to use those stop leak remedies. Eric did and episode on them to.[/quote]
Ya I watched that video, which made perfect sense to me. And it’s the reason why I hesitate to use a stop leak product, despite so many people saying how great it is. Didn’t work on my steering rack a year ago so I already have a somewhat negative opinion of that stuff.
[quote=”Evil-i” post=170299]On something this old, you bite the bullet and swallow repair and maintenance costs, or you go shopping for something in better shape.
Don’t use leak stoppers. Get the repair done properly[/quote]
I do agree that it is better to replace bad parts instead of using a “fix” for them. I guess I’m just looking at the possibility of it being something extensive that I can’t and don’t want to mess with. With the car being so old there are a lot of parts on it that are near impossible to get off.
[quote=”BubbaGarage” post=170332]Did you use RTV when replacing valve cover gasket? Did you torque bolts on valve cover?[/quote]
Not RTV but I did use a gasket sealant that I got from the autoparts store on the valve cover gasket. The gasket wouldn’t stay in otherwise. Here’s a pic of the stuff I used:
And yes I torqued everything down. Pretty much did everything that ETCG did in his video.
Trying to recall from memory you are to only use sealant at certain location of valve cover gasket……..so I guess the question is where did you put sealant?
[quote=”BubbaGarage” post=170348]Trying to recall from memory you are to only use sealant at certain location of valve cover gasket……..so I guess the question is where did you put sealant?[/quote]
My intention was to use it only on the 4 corners where ETCG indicated. But I also HAD to use it as an adhesive to keep the gasket in the grooves of the valve cover, otherwise I would have had the exact problem that Eric had at the end of his “Spark Plug Well Oil Leak Fix, Honda Accord – EricTheCarGuy” video where the gasket kept falling out. In fact I just watched the end of it again and he does say “I’m gonna get some gasket sealant and put this one in” and you see the sealant he used. That’s how I did it.
I have not seen the video and am not saying you installed valve cover gasket wrong but this is how I have did 2 cars (one car guy was told engine was blown) and both cars I had good results.
1. I cleaned everything good.
2. I only put RTV on corners where head mates with rocker arm assembly.
3. I waited for RTV to slightly harder maybe 5 minutes before insalling.
Try to clean around the gasket really good any maybe take a LED Light and inspection mirror to see if the valve cover gasket is problem.Oh. I’m sorry. I just automatically assumed you had seen the video. 🙂 I did clean everything at the time I did the repair. I even went back and did it a second time thinking I did it wrong the first. It’s possible I did it wrong again. I did wait for the sealant to harden slightly. The only thing I did different from what you said is that I used the sealant on more than just the corners. Without it in other spots there was no way the gasket was going to stay in. In fact the old one fell right out as soon as I took the valve cover off. How it stayed in place is beyond me. It would be helpful if I could recall if the oil spots around the valve cover were there before I did the repair. In the morning I’ll dump in the dye and use the UV light to try and find the leaks. I know I should have done this earlier but I’ve had too many other things going on all at once.
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