cityjack

Afternoon all,

After coming home last night from work I went looking for the FITV and the IACV to try to solve my erratic idle. That's when with the flash light I found a huge as oil leak somewhere down below the oil filter. Got the car up on jacks and the whole underside was soaking wet with fresh oil. the best I can tell in between the ATTS and everything else in the way at night on my back is the leak might just be coming from the oil cooler area.
After doing some forum research, H22's are infamous for this o-ring failing and causing a huge oil leak or loss of oil quickly was more like it. I never got an engine light or an oil light thank god. I still had three quarts of synthetic in it. Yes I drained it and measured it.
Question is, how hard is it to get to that o-ring behind the oil cooler? How hard and is it possible to get to the gasket behind the oil cooler mount that mounts to the block? I am hoping its just the o-ring behind the oil cooler though.
The parts are on order and should have them tomorrow. Will take a stab at this this weekend. Just trying to get some opinions before I get in there in case I need any special tools.

Thanks and have a nice day.

Sid

friutoftheLude

I have to do this myself, but havent gotten to it
when you take off the filter there is a bolt underneath that needs to come off, and it needs a 30mm socket on it (or close to a 30mm)

cityjack

Thanks for the reply. What about if I need to take the oil cooler mount off the block and get to that o-ring? I mean if that's the culprit. The ATTS is in the way from the bottom. Can this be done from the top?

Thanks again for chiming in.

Sid

friutoftheLude

that info i dont have, my 01 Lude is a base, i dont even know what the ATTS looks like under the car, lol sorry.

Im pretty sure that 30mm (or close to it) is the only bolt that needs off after you take off the filter

Runnerdown

You are right in about the o-ring leak. It happens often when the weather gets cold and the seal shrinks.

Sparksman

All you have to do is take off the intake manifold. Its a pain yes, but no choice. Take off intake or pull the engine from the car lol. It will take longer to take the manifold off then the actual o-ring.

cityjack

Thank you sir for chiming in. I appreciate it. You are referring to removing the intake if the gasket between the block and oil cooler mount is the problem and not the o-ring between the mount and the oil cooler?

I am hoping for the simple o-ring first. Going to go get the o-ring x2 and the gasket at the dealer after work. Gotta go get a deep dish 30mm too. then some cheap oil to make sure it doesn't leak after installing the o-ring. If it seals and works, I'll dump the cheap oil and put my Mobil one or purple back in.

Thanks guys very much for helping.

Sid

cityjack

No more leaks! Thanks a ton guys. After getting the oil filter(need to buy a special wrench for this car) and cooler off from the top, I had to crawl under to feel around for the bad o-ring. It was still stuck to the cooler mount. the o-ring was as hard as a piece of plastic and completely split. Seriously. It was like a hard piece of plastic. The cold weather switch from southern SC to northern NC I think did it in finally. It was no darn easy chore keeping that o-ring in place even with grease applied with my big hands banging around in there and gravity pulling it down. Once I felt that I THINK it was in place and still staying there because I could only see half of it and had to feel the other half, I gently put the cooler back to where it came from and put the 30mm bolt back in. Had to remove a small fuel line in order to move the torque wrench in there. Two test rides and no leaks. Nice welcome to the H22 world from my old B20 3rd gen.

Now on to my bouncing surging idle. Which is what I started to do three days ago when I found this oil leak while looking for the FITV and the IACV. I had the same problem on my 3rd gen. Once a year the fast idle valve would back out. Thanks to the Helms, I now know where they both are. First I'll try to bleed some air out of the coolant to see if that helps.

Have a nice holiday guys.

Sid

Sparksman

If its not leaking then its good enough lol. Clean the fitv and the iacv, but it for me at least, it always ended up being the tps. Check for vacuum leaks too, that will cause surging.

cityjack

Thanks. I think its probably going to be the FITV. It always was with my 3rd gen. The IACV they say needs to be replaced if thats the case. I'll check for vacuum leaks first and then the other two valves.

I'll keep you all posted.

Have a good night.

Sid

Sparksman

Id clean the IACV first, they may need replacing. You can even get a used one from a wrecking yard, clean it up and it will work fine. These are quite pricey if you want to buy a new one... I bought a used one for my car.

cityjack

Thank you very much for your replies sir. Funny you mention a junk yard. My friend and I are going on Friday after thanksgiving. Was going mainly for some bolts and odds and ends for my third gen. Not too sure if there are any 5th gens in the yard. Off the top of your head, any other Hondas that I might be able to rob a IACV from perhaps?

How do you clean the IACV? Remve and just take apart and clean the individual parts and reassemble? Anything to look for in particular?

Have a good holiday sir.
Sid

Sparksman

Its friday now lol... You should be able to use any H/F IACV, thats the conclusion I came to when researching it. As I currently have a F series one on my intake mani, I will be disappointed if it doesn't work. They do visually look different too.

TheJGB3

You do not need to pull the intake to change the oil cooler o-ring, but it would make the job a lot easier.

Here are some DIY from other forums
Oil cooler o-ring replacement on an SH - NTPOG Forums

98 Prelude SH Oil cooler, O-ring replacement - Honda Prelude Forum .:.

How to: Replace Oil Cooler O-Ring - Honda Prelude Forum : Honda Prelude Forums

cityjack

Thanks. Working on the idle air valves now.

Thanks again.