bigme574

Recently replaced timing belt and head gasket/valves. Now when the car is off oil leaks from where the tranny meets the engine. I have taken out the tranny thinking it was the rear main seal...but that looks alright, (im still replacing it), so what causes these accords to leak only when shut off? I looked for 10 min while running and no leak anywhere...but 10 seconds after shut off, leaks like a siv...Now im driving a ford...help me!

Aaron

Ross 2.0

are you positive it's oil and not transmission fluid? also what year accord is this?

immalooser

my guess would be the distributor o-ring. it will leak over the tranny and go down towards the bottom.

P_Adams

In effect, what you've got is a component that leaks while running, puddles and then drips once shut off. There is not one component which would only leak when off - except the water pump. Reason? (you ask)
By a fluke in engineering design, the waterpump uses a lip seal on the rotor shaft which is oriented to seal harder to the shaft with pressure. Once the pressure is removed, the seal relaxes. New, this isn't a problem. But when they age, they get stiff, take a set and wear, to the point that they start leaking.
(Hey, are we still talking about waterpumps?, ...sounds like Grandpa)
They won't leak when the system's pressurized, and you can idle all day and see nothing. But in the morning you've a puddle under the engine.

If you know for a fact it's oil/tranny fluid etc., you might think of asking your tech to put some dye in the suspected fluid and hit the engine with a blacklight. The leak will become readily apparent.

P

bigme574

Thanks for the info, I ran the car with old oil and it dripped dark, then I changed it 5 miles after the head gasket job and the leak got a lil lighter, so my guess is oil...also, the dip stick was down a 1/2 quart in like 2 miles! So, I have the tranny out, I will replace the distributor o-ring and rebuild the tranny with new seals as well as replace the rear-main seal and torque converter seal in the tranny, incase the fluid is held in the TC while spinning, then leaks after shut-off...still, its quite annoying to deal with this car...and my supercharged fors is squeezing for 18mpg...which sux at 450 miles/week.

Thanks again,
Aaron

bigme574

Ohh, and its a 1990 auto lx 4 door. 205K miles