pony327

I just got my prelude and noticed it was a quart low already in just 200 miles since oil change. I snooped around and found allot of oil/sludge on the passenger side of the head where the dist is located. That whole area is covered in oil and black all the way down to the trans.

any idea where that oil might be coming from? VC gasket, solenoid etc??
not familar with these cars is that side of the motor a common area where they leak from and what are the things i can replace to stop slowdown the leak?

pIERCE

Yeah actually there are two seals on that side that are notorious for oil leaks. You have an o-ring type seal for the dist, and then you have a plug type seal for the end of the camshaft. The stock plugs are made out of plastic and warp slightly over age--enough to leak. There are higher quality aftermarket plugs that are aluminum with 2-3 rubber seals that last longer, they cost about $20.

The seals are actually pretty easy to replace, you need to take the valve cover off, and for the plug seal, you'll need to take a cam plate off--which means you MUST use torque specs to put everything back together.

There are write-ups on here and other sites that will explain in much greater detail.

Good luck.

EDIT: This was recently done on another site: Write up-cam plug *pics* - Preludepower.com

pony327

Thanks so much for that info!!!