01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

Hi all, new member and I need some help with a few questions regarding my buddies Accord.

01 Accord, manual trans, F23A1 stamp on the engine. SOHC V-Tec head.

It's leaking oil, either from the front crank seal or the oil pump. So he ordered a timing belt kit for it with a valve cover gasket set, water pump, timing and balance belts, both tensioners, and crank and cam seals.

On to the questions. The valve cover gasket kit came with 4 bolt grommets, but this head has 5 bolts. Also the grommets in the kit are smaller than the ones on the head.
It also has a handful of o-ring seals that look like the lower tube seals that the old F22 engine used. This engine does NOT have these o-rings, it has the steel tubes pressed into the head.
It also came with a funny figure 8 shaped o-ring. A large o-ring with a smaller one stuck to the side. Both are perfectly round shaped. This doesn't look anything like the V-Tec solenoid o-rings I've seen which have an oblong, D, or oval shaped.
The upper tube seals included with the kit appear correct, and the cover gasket is correct.
So I'm trying to figure out exactly which engine this kit is supposed to be for. If the valve cover gasket set is wrong, it seems to me ill get the rest torn apart and find out the timing parts are wrong as well. And we don't want his car sitting in my driveway for two weeks waiting for the correct parts.

Second question, is the oil pump sealed to the block with an o-ring/gasket or some type of sealer?
Also, since it appears to be driven by the rear balance shaft, if I remove the oil pump, does the whole balance shaft come out with it? Or does it have a notch drive for the balance shaft? (kinda like the notch in the cam for the ditributor drive)

Thanks in advance for any help!

Re: 01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

Where did you get the seals and what brand?
Probably just the incorrect seals if the VC seals are wrong.

Re: 01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

Yeah, it doesn't matter what set it is if it doesn't fit.

The oil pump is sealed via the crank seal and a smaller oring. Keep in mind you will need to remove the oil pan in order to remove the oil pump as there are two bolts(studs really) that go from the oil pump downward and is in between the oil pan and the block.

Re: 01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

Thanks. Kit was ordered for an F23A1 engine and as far as I know it should only have one type of head, so it looks like we were shipped the wrong kit.


It does not appear that the oil pump is leaking. Hopefully just the front crank seal. However, I see that the front balance shaft has a seal. If that is leaking how difficult is it to replace that seal?

Re: 01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

In order to pull the oil pump you will need to take off the front and rear gears. You will find it will be much easier to replace all the seals when removing the front oil pump case. It's the same when removing the rear case when replacing the rear main seal.

You won't have to worry about possibly scratching the crank or cam or balance shafts since you're removing the oil pump. Just make sure to put grease on the inner lips of all the seals unless you're buying a Honda OEM seal which will come pregreased. The grease helps the inner lip to breakin properly so it doesn't dry tear.

Re: 01 Accord Valve cover gasket, oil pump questions
 

Thanks. I have a seal puller from Lisle which is specially made to pull low clearance seals without scratching the shaft. It makes it very easy to remove most crank and cam seals, and it works great on rear main seals as well.

Had to put this project on hold. Tried everything we could to get the crank pulley bolt loose and it just wouldn't budge. 200 lbs standing on the end of a 5 foot pipe wouldn't touch it. Decided to get our other friend who's 320 to give it a try but he was busy all weekend, then the weather got in the way.