LudeAct

Haven't had much luck with the 4th gen prelude SI. I didn't like the high gearing on the tranny where at 80mph I'm right at about 4k rpm. It's feels sportier and powerful but although people always say the motor's built for it, I still sense there's a lot of stress on the engine. But anyway, I bought the lude used with 200k and it was running nice and strong. Then one day I took it on the highway driving normally on 5th with no/traffic, and took it all the way to 130mph. I didn't even push it or anything as it was just 5th gear from 50mph all the way. When I exited and came to a stop light, I heard a bit of mild rattling noise. It's still drove fine but the noise eventually got louder. That's when I realized it had to have been a spun bearing. I was lucky to still be able to drive the car for another month or so before it finally gave out. I then replaced it with a 68k h23a1 motor and it was back to normal again. This motor was much more powerful and quieter during idling. Then this past weekend I took it to LA. I was being real easy on the car, rarely pushing it past 80mph even on highway 5, Lol.. I finally got back safely to San Francisco but noticed the red oil light flashing. I pulled over to look under the hood and could smell a little bit of oil burning. Then I looked under the car to find that there was oil dripping from the driver side near the axle area. I then looked under the hood again to focus on that particular side. Sure enough, there was a wet area right behind the engine mount. I couldn't really see it clearly, but it seems like it's right in between the block and head. I'm worried it's the head gasket. I poured in a quart of oil just so that I could make it back home. There was no overheating or anything and it drove absolutely fine. Any ideas guys?

holmesnmanny

Possibly the front balance shaft seal blew out. Just a guess.

LudeAct

Where is the front balance shaft seal? I mean, this oil seems to be dripping between the head and the block.

drbenne

It's behind the timing belt cover. There are a few oil leaks that could happen behind there; balancer shaft, oil pump, main seal, cam seals. All require the removal of the timing belt to fix. Clean up the oil the best you can to try and find it better

CD5B2

I had a similar leak in my h23 and it was actually the valve cover gasket, distributor seal and the balance shaft seal leaking. One just assumes it's the head gasket when it leaks in that area. It probably is the balance shaft seal, which now requires a retainer to prevent the seal from popping out. You will have to get the retainer from Honda (you will need the part number when ordering) or a website that has honda parts. I posted the part number in a thread awhile back, it's probably on the second or third page on this section by now. Make sure you get all Honda seals for the engine.