Ryan Lwin

Hey guys. I have a leak on my engine. After I cleaned the grease on the bottom of the oil pan, I found out it's leaking from two places. One is from drain plug. I think I can just add gasket to it since it doesn't have one. Maybe drain plug is not good anymore.

The other one is what I'm concerned about. It's leaking from behind the crank pulley. It's not big. It's just small leak. I would like to know if it has anything to do with being over filled and leaking because of that or the gasket is not good anymore. I replaced this gasket just a year ago when I did the timing belt and water pump. Now, it's leaking out of no where. I am going to replace this again but if it only lasted a year, I'm afraid there might be something pushing the oil out. My guess is because oil was over filled. Any other ideas?

fragmare

Are you talking about the front main crank seal directly behind the timing belt drive? Maybe it's not that seal doing the leaking. Looking at the diagram, there's an o-ring a few inches to the upper right of that, where the oil pump mates with the block. Could be that one, and you're just seeing the oil that trickles down. It's #16 in the diagram below. Might even be #9 leaking, for that matter:

Zeusfire69

This could be from anything behind the timing cover. The first thing I would do is check the cam seal....mostly because it's soo easy to see just by pulling the upper timing cover. But it could be from the cam seal, the crank seal or the oil pump. All of them are pretty easy to replace...except the oil pump gasket..

I REALLY doubt that your oil is overfilled enouph to cause a leak...it would have to be like 2 qts overfull to get up that far and you would have many other problems by that point. I almost always have my car a little overfull...like half diatance between the dots...only above the top dot...if this makes sense...mabe like this

--- oil level
. upper dot

. lower dot

Ryan Lwin

Yeah. Mine is right there. Above the upper dot. I over filled it while doing oil change by mistake.

And no. It's not coming from anywhere. I know this because I took out the timing belt cover, timing belt and crank pulley. I can take out the crank pulley easier than stock because it's been out before and my car is manual. I checked and it's the crank seal. It's the new seal and it's leaking. I don't know what caused it but it shouldn't leak in just a year I think. That's why I wanna find out the possible causes of the leak.

I read somewhere that tightening drain plug to certain point can have effect on oil pan gasket and crank seal. I may have tighten the drain plug with a bit more torque because it was leaking. It was too late for me to buy a gasket.

strategy400

The Y8 have an aluminium oil pan. The drain plugs often get stripped due to overtightening. You can try a new washer and see if it helps. Use a torque wrench and tighten to spec.
Don't jump to conclusions about the leak behind the pulley. I had the same leak on a Y8 and it wasn't the crank or cam seal. It was leaking from the pan gasket area where it dips around the oil pump. I was able to see this because we were replacing the timing belt. The area below the crank seal and above the pan gasket was dry. I could see a drip coming out of the pan gasket. We replaced the pan gasket (and the pan because it had a stripped drain plug). I doubt it is from being overfilled. It could be seeping down from the valve cover or the dipstick oring, but I'd definitely consider the pan gasket (much easier job than replacing the seals too).
You could probably repair the drain threads or try an oversized plug if necessary, thats your call. I don't like to take chances with engine lubrication.

fragmare

Yea, oil pan gaskets tend to leak over time fairly often. It definitely could be leaking around the little arch where the gasket goes around the oil pump too. Those little corners require Hondabond or equivalent RTV to seal properly, so they're prone to leaking.

ggixxer599

Good info here guys, I recently purchased a used Honda Civic EX Auto with the D16Y8 motor in it. It has been leaking oil recently so I have been trying to troubleshoot it. I have a feeling that it is leaking from the gasket but then I saw that I also had a hairline crack in the oil pan itself.. so im planing on replacing the pan and gasket all at once. Tahnaks for all the good info!

S2BumpsticksGSR

Op- IF you do find it to be crank seal, the parts house sells what's called a "speedy sleeve" to go between crank and seal. After many miles the seal puts a groove in the crank. Steel vs rubber and the rubber wins who knew...