Rad_Teg

I was looking around my engine bay and noticed that there is a hole between the number 2 and 3 runners of my intake manifold! The hole is on the head its self, at first I thought it was some sort of breather for the head but I checked online and haven't seen the same hole on any other VX's. Here is a pics.






Modified by Rad_Teg at 12:28 PM 11/12/2008

B18C5-EH2

Actually the hole pictured is on the head itself, not the block.

...but anyways I'm not sure what it's for.

Is it the original D15Z1 engine?

Oh and I doubt that's an actual hole as you'd have the biggest vaccum leak in history and the engine would redline as soon as you started it up. It looks like a casting area that probably goes fairly deep, but it cannot be an actual hole.

Rad_Teg

Sorry for the typo, just changed it from block to head.

The head is stamped d15z1, but the valve cover was apperently changed before I bought the car. It doesn't say vtec-e on it, just vtec.

Rad_Teg

Any VX owners out there know what this hole is all about?

B18C5-EH2

Are you worried about it, or is it just plain curiosity now?

Rad_Teg

Worried because I smell buring motor oil once in a while and I know I don't have any leaks.

Wouldn't this effect enigne head presure or something like that?

B18C5-EH2

Man if that were an actual hole that was supposed to be plugged off the engine would seriously redline as soon as you cranked it up, because that would be the biggest vacuum leak in history, seriously.

I can't think of how any oil could even leak from that area. There's no telling how long it's taken for that grimey build-up to occur in that gap, but it isn't leaking oil from there.

There are a number of places oil leaks that are not easy to see or diagnose. If you smell burning oil it's likely coming from somewhere up high and running down, thus burning off before you ever see a drip on the ground. If you literally have ZERO oil leaks, but you smell burning oil then the engine is burning oil and it's coming out of the tail pipe.

I know this doesn't answer what the hell that area is, but trust me - it's not going to cause an oil burning smell.

Relic1

as strange as it seems, that's perfectly normal for the VX.

also, not all VX's had the VTEC-E on the valve cover.

Rad_Teg

So what the heck is it? Some sort of breather? I thought I was missing a plug.

Does anyone have a picture of their VX with the same hole?

Rad_Teg

Thanks for the reply.

Relic1

there are many things on the D15Z1 that look like honda started down one road then stopped and left little things here and there. This is one of them. It's blocked off if I remember right. Does nothing but collect dusty greasy oily stuff.

Rad_Teg

Well I was online last night and saw a picture of another VX with some sort of plug or gasket that was covering it. Now I'm wondering if different years had different things going on, I have a 1994. Maybe there is a part number for this.

95vxtealhatch

i used to own a vx motor and i have never seen such a hole. and ive had the entire engine apart.

Rad_Teg

Here is a picture I found online, the guy is sure that his enggine is a VX also. If you look at the last pic his hole is covered.

Relic1

very difficult to mistake the Z1 with those pics, EGR, VTEC solenoid and the size of that TB...

I'm seeing an empty cavern, no block off plate.
it's not dark like yours, so no oil got in there over the years, but it's still open.
Are you saying yours is a lot deeper? I'd only expect it to be around an inch deep.

t0p_sh0tta

If that were an actual oil leak, there'd be oil everywhere. If you're worried about it, hit it with some brake cleaner and see how long it takes to get dirty again.

B18C5-EH2

No it's not covered at all - it's the exact same as yours, only it is clean as others have stated. Now that you've shown me that pic of one it's defonately just some casting cavernous area that serves no purpose.

Rad_Teg

So it looks like the hole is the same, the angle on this one is stright so it looked different. I'm going to clean it with carb cleaner and see how it looks then.

Thanks for all of the comments.