Civiccity03

Hi guys, I recently bought a 99 EX (or LX for Americans) Civic auto as a little beater. It's got about 260km on it and doesn't drive that good. I noticed that it had oil leaking from the distributor o ring and the valve cover may have also been leaking. There was oil built up around a couple of the valve cover bolts as well. I replaced the distributor o ring and valve cover gasket and the oil leaks have seemed to disappear but I'm still smelling oil burning. There are no leaks or oil stains on my driveway and nothing looks to be leaking from the top of the engine either. Anyone know what it could be? I checked the oil and it is a bit down as well.

Also, the car is really down on power and has bad gas mileage too. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

mk378

When oil leaks out the valve cover gasket it runs down onto the exhaust manifold and burns.

Civiccity03

Hey, I replaced the valve cover gasket though so it shouldn't be leaking anymore, and isn't from what I can see.

civicservice

I believe these are all of the places from which engine oil can leak on one of these cars:

1. distributor o-ring
2. valve cover gasket
3. camshaft seal
4. PCV valve
5. oil filter
6. crankshaft seal
7. rear main seal
8. dipstick tube o-ring
9. oil pan

You took care of (1) and (2). You can check for (3) by removing the valve cover (again) and upper timing cover. (4) and (5) are very difficult to reach, but you can inspect by removing the air cleaner from the top of throttle body (they're both under the intake manifold and not visible from under the car. Mirror could help. (6) can only checked by removing the crankshaft pulley and lower timing cover. For (7), you need to pull the transmission. (8) can be checked without disassembling anything. (9) can be checked easily from underneath.

You say there are no visible leaks. So before going to too much effort, it might be worth giving it some time for the old oil that previously leaked out to burn away.

I have seen reports that adjusting valve lash does wonders for fuel economy and power on civics of this vintage.

Noticeable tick in engine. | ClubCivic.com - Your Online Civic Community

Also consider inspecting the throttle body and cleaning if needed.

Civiccity03

Hey, thanks for your help. I will take a look at the PCV valve and around the oil filter but I think the engine may just be burning oil. When I got it, it had no oil in it. If something has that big of a leak, it would show under the car I think. I thought the leak may have been due to the o ring and valve cover gasket but now I'm thinking the engine may just be burning oil. I had another 99 and it ate oil as well.

Is it very common for these engines to burn a lot of oil? Or could it be something like the PCV valve?

I think that the power issue is also the result of the car being down on oil. I know because as I added more and more oil to it, it ran better.

egsleepercivic

try cleaning the engine bay \ motor

cover up the dizzy and try not shoot water directly into the alternator

sounds like residual oil, at least if its still leaking a clean engine bay will make it easier to find the leak

Civiccity03

Will try to get some degreaser and do that.

Civiccity03

Are you guys ruling out bad piston rings? I mean, the car has 260km on it and the people that I bought it off didn't look like they really maintained the car.