about two days ago, i started up my car, i heard a wierd sound. it sounded like oil squishing around. didnt think much of it, was nervous tho. i closed the engine, walked to the front of my car to open my hood, and i notice a huge puddle of oil under my car dripping towards me. looks like something went very wrong. i checked with my oil dipstick and wont show up on the dipstick. and this was right before i had to go to school. it seemed this was a ongoing problem cuz i saw on the upper part of my driveway that it had oil too and i drove it that night too not realizing my oil was leaking out. i noticed a smell coming from my car through the air condition but i didnt think too much of it since i know i spilt a bit of oil on the valve cover so i thought it was just burning off and making that smell. hopefully i didnt cause engine damage. a seal must have broke. i dont know what to do now. i guess i gotta get it towed to a shop but i hate doing that! i dont trust these people. i think im just gonna take it to honda even thought i know they are gonna rip me to shreds. i guess theres nothing i can do about it now. maybe there was too much oil and it popped a seal? cuz i remember added a bit of oil cuz it was a little low, thats how i got some oil on my valve cover. this really sucks
any advice on what to say to the people whos fixing my car, or any recommendations at all on what to do would be nice. im thinkin if theres a lot of engine damage, i might aswell swap in a new engine (jdm h22a), that would make me feel better. although i would miss my h23. but thats thinkin ahead of myself. hopefully, its not that bad. so just let me know what i should look for, what to ask, what to think, and anything else. just offer advice i guess hehe. maybe even some of you went through this before. thanx.
My bet would be balancer shaft seal. See if its leaking from the timing belt area. If so I would bet almost 100% that its the balancer shafter seal. It happend to me almost the same way you described it.
^^ doh! I dunno why I didn't think of that when you and I spoke last night midnite, there was a recall on the balancer shaft seal, if you're on later tonight for scorched earth or just in general, IM me your VIN and i'll check to see if that recall was done for your car.
thanx a lot guys. im gonna try and get more specific on the location of the leak. and it wasnt spurting out. i just saw it leaking down the driveway towards me. hopefully ill see you online adam so you can check for me. what im really worried about engine damage, but if that happens, ill be going vtec hehe. but im getting ahead of myself. tomorrow, im gonna try and see where its coming from. if i cant see a almost obvious place where its leakin. im gonna clean up oil from the underside or w/e else theres oil and pour some oil in my engine and see whats up. like where its leaking from, slow leak or it all comes out one shot and ill have a much better idea at whats wrong. im gonna hold back on going to honda and try to see what it is myself so i know they arent trying to rip me or if i even need their help because ide really like to avoid taking it to them.
It's probably nothing serious. What you're describing is almost the same thing that happened to me 3 days ago. I was on the freeway then I noticed my car smoking, so I went back home and noticed a trail of oil I was leaving behind, and when I took it to the Xpress Lube my oil was completely drained and I had just gotten an oil change 4 days prior to my problem.
What my problem was..
Notice part 18 (oil cooler, 300$) and part 33 (o-ring, $1.63). Prices are from majestic honda.
The pressure due to the age of it (wear & tear, etc) caused it to snap out of place, in turn causing the oil to leak out. It only leaks out when the car is on as that is when the oil travels through the oil cooler. So without that o-ring in place (which sits on the oil cooler) there would of course be a big gap that the oil would just fall through. It's right up next to the oil filter.
The fix should be simply having your mechanic replace that o-ring. The dealer should have it in stock, but expect to pay like 5 bucks for it If your mechanic knows what he's doing he can remove the oil cooler in 15 mins or so and put in the new o-ring. Apparently it's a common problem with preludes. If you were driving while it happened there will probably be a lot of oil all over the underside of the car like on mine, so now I gotta do some hardcore pressure washing under there. So you'll still see some smoking caused by the excess oil on the car being burned off by the heat, and yes the smoke will leak to the inside of your car through the AC vents but it doesn't mean your engine is toast. If your mechanic is somewhat nearby (as in 2 miles or less) and you dont wanna pay for a towtruck just top it out with oil and drive it over there, unless you think the leakage is too severe. Best of luck to you.
if you dont wanna pay that extra $ to have a shop/mechanic do it, you can do it yourself! i did it was some-what easy. the only hard part was getting the nut loose, i used a size 30mm. well if u chose to do it yourself and some help let me know. good luck!
o ok good you did it, cuz i still didnt call honda lol. i think im just gonna give up trying to do it myself and just send the damn thing to honda already cuz i cant jack up the car and theres been bad weather and i just dont have the time or someone to help me get this thing on a jack.
If the oil was coming out around the timing belt, it's probably the balancer seal. Honda makes a bracket now that holds it in place so this sort of thing can't happen again. Mine popped due to an overpressurization in the oil system somewhere. To make a long story short, I was a PITA to fix (you might as well replace your timing belt while you're there) Anyway, good luck.
ok, today was a really nice day to work on the car. so this is what i did. ill skip all the irrelevant parts and just skip to the facts. i got the car somewhat level and poured 3 quarts of oil into the engine. waited a bit, checked the oil and it was a bit above the top dot. i looked under the car and theres no leaking whatsoever. i waited some more and still no leak. i decided to start up the car. as soon as i started up the car, oil started to leak out. it leaked out in string form, not dripping in droplets so i know it has gotten more severe then before because i think before it was dripping in droplets. since it leaked, a put a bit more oil into the engine and backed it up into my driveway quickly before a lot of oil could leak out. i think i could tell the engine wasnt running so good when i reversed the car into the driveway but i didnt really have time to really tell cuz i turned off the engine as soon as possible. i know around where its dripping from now. i can rule out drain plug. i saw it leaking onto the header exhaust pipe a few inches in front of the flex portion of the header. so it could be anything above it. i can rule out any side engine seals because that would be near the wheels and i can also rule out the balancer shaft seal because that would also be near the drivers side wheel. im pretty sure that its leaking from above the header exhaust pipe in front of the flex pipe.
it can now be one of three things.
oil cooler o ring
oil filter needs tightening
rear engine seal.
im gonna have to jack it up again and tighten up the oil filter and see how that helps me. hopefully ill be able to get under the car, its pretty hard to get under there.
where exactly is the oil cooler tho? right above the oil filter?
o really?? you connect the oil filter to the oil cooler? so to take off the oil cooler, i have to take off the oil filter, and the bolt should be in there?
yuppez, I just did this. . Its only an O ring, pretty big but only an o-ring.
I hear that on lots of peoples ludes this part eventually drires out and cracks, and when the engine is running it leaks like a sonofab*tch like you have.
Get the part from honda, its like 2 bucks and most dealers should have it in stock.
Get some needle nose plyers, a wrench (22mm I think?), flat head screwdriver and some patience.
Drain oil, take off oil filter, take the 22 wrench over the part where the oil filter screws onto, on the base (against the oil cooler) there is a 22mm bolt, take your wrench and loosen it.
The whole threaded piece unscrews and comes out, so be ready for it to drop.
Now you can tilt the oil cooler upwards (its attached to coolant lines so flexibility is limited) you'll see the existing rubber ring in the groove inside the oil cooler, use a flat head screwdriver to take it all out.
Then get your new o-ring and press it into the groove all the way around inside the cooler, when its in place (and make sure its pressed in all the way around) then bolt it back on.
put on your oil filter, fill with oil, (replace oil cap) and start the car.. hopefully you're good.
otherwise on the back of the block there really isn't anywhere else I think the oil would leak from except for cam seal .. but I doubt it in this case..
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