Boarderx192

Was driving my car last night to go pick up a friend from a bar. Got to the bar after some spirited backroad driving and picked her up. Durring the spirited driving, I stayed out of Vtec for the most part. I was shifting at 5k every time, and only got into vtec once. When vtec was engaged, it didnt sound "smooth". I kinda sounded like it didnt know if it wanted to be on or not. I assumed it was due to low oil/ lower oil pressure. Its done it to be before once and I changed the oil the next day and it was fine.

After picking her up from the bar, we had to drive 3 miles down the road to go get her car. Pulled into the parking lot and shut my car off but left my lights on. I was talking to her for ~30 seconds when I looked at the front of the car and see a little smoke coming out. I poped the hood and you can smell burning oil and its smoking from the rear of the motor under the intake manifold. I grabed a flashlight and looked around and there was oil EVERYWHERE under the IM. Pushed the car into a spot, and left it there.

Went back this morning to take a look at it. I jacked up the car and took the drivers side wheel off. Crawled under and there was a coating of oil on everything. Cleaned it up a little, got more oil, and limped it back home. On the way home there was no noises, no issues, nothing.

I searched on Honda-tech and so far the list of things that people have had oil leaking related problems are:

Crankcase seal
Oil sending unit
Oil Cooler
Oil Pressure switch

Out of all the things on the list, Im leaning towards the Oil cooler and the Oil pressure switch. Ive always had an issue with leaking a little oil though too. Whenever I change my oil, theres always a drop or two just sitting on the halfshaft. Ive never had any oil on my driveway, it just chills on the halfshaft and sometimes you can see a couple drops just randomly on the motor. I had droped my car off for other things at Hybrid(local shop) and had them look for the leak, and they said that everything was ok. This was about 2 weeks ago.

Main question is:

How do I test any of the above listed possibilities? I dont want to start replacing stuff if i dont have to. I really think that its the oil cooler because When I was under there, It seemed to be dripping from the center of the rear of the motor.

It also take a little while (~minute) for it to start leaking which makes me think that it has to do with oil passages because it takes a little while for the oil to circulate(sp?)


Any Ideas? How can I test to see if its anything on the above list?


BTW: Motor is a h22 with 37K on it.

And I did search. From what Ive been reading, Im really leaning towards the Oil cooler but Im just not sure.

saikou

Replace the oil cooler seal... its like, 3 bucks at the dealer.
Take the oil pressure sending unit out and wrap the threads with teflon tape and re-install.

LudeBehavi0r

Im thinking your prob is more with the oil cooler seal. I believe its #33 in the picture (towards the left hand side). Thats could explain where your little drips are coming from and because our motors are notorious for leaking from there. I think this is is the best place to start for trail and error b/c its cheap/easy and im sure your due for one anyways.

Here is the link to the page: http://www.hondaautomotivepart...AINER

And second what he said up there ^^

Boarderx192

Is there any way that I can test to see if it is indeed the oil cooler gasket?

piggydog

almost same thing happend to me. 99% it's the oil cooler

LudeBehavi0r

Not that I know of. Honestly tho its worth just buying a new one, like Saikou and I said b4, its a $4 part and your going to need one sooner or later.

Boarderx192

So I crawled under the car today with a light to see if I could figure out exactly where it it was coming from and I found it coming from a spot that I dont think has access to oil




Apparently the upper left bolt came loose and fell off on my half shaft. I had someone start the car up and I went under it to see oil spraying out of this hole. Does anyone know why there would be oil coming out of this hole? Is it a passage to the inside of the block? I would assume that it was just a threaded hole with an "backing" if that makes sense.

Boarderx192

BUMP

Anyone know if its right that oil can come out of this hole if the bolt is not in it? It doesnt come out if the car is not running, It only comes out if the car IS running.

LudeBehavi0r

Cant say I can help....sry

mgags7

Are you absolutely sure that it is that bolt hole that is leaking?

There is a bolt to the left of that some that has oil pressure, its the one you would use to hold the balance shaft aligned while doing the timing belt

Boarderx192

Yes I am ABSOLUTLY POSITVE that it was out of that hole. I put a new bolt in it and there is no leak now. Its sort of a temporary fix but I want to find the base of the problem. I know exactly which bolt your talking about and Im positive its not that one.

ANY IDEAS???

mgags7

Well I suppose that said bolt has an oil feed....that is pretty odd....either way if that hole gets oil pressure I doubt that is a "problem"....its not an unlikely location...its just odd that its on the halfshaft bolt...

Boarderx192

Well is there anyone that can confirm that this bolt does get an oil feed? Does anyone have a block laying around that can look to see if this hole goes into the block and doesnt have a back to prevent using an excessively long bolt?

jzobie1

I have a spare block and i took a look at it today. It definately stops after the threading but it looks like there may be some kind of brass plug in there that is held in with the bolt. I know that there is no way i can take a pic for you but i will try to get a better look at it later.

Boarderx192

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jzobie1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a spare block and i took a look at it today. It definately stops after the threading but it looks like there may be some kind of brass plug in there that is held in with the bolt. I know that there is no way i can take a pic for you but i will try to get a better look at it later.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If there is any way that you can look into this to see if I do need to find a plug or something I would greatly appreciate it. I just want to fix this the right way.

jzobie1

Ok from a more thourough inspection that i just did that bolt hole is not plugged but it is on the other side of the blance shaft. I will be able to take picture maybe tomorrow since i am going to work right now and do not have a place to host images right now anyway. Inside the block Honda made a bump to accomodate for the half shaft bracket holes being on the other side. This leads me to believe that the aluminum is only of minimal thinkness at that point. If your bolt jarred its way out and caused a crack doing so you would definatley get the amount of oil pouring out of the motor that you describe, especially being right next to the balance shaft. Hopefully the crack is at the bottom of the hole and not in the threads or you may have to remove the motor to get it repaired. If it is in the bottom of the hole you could safely put teflon tape around the threads of the bolt and torque it back in there. If you need me to clarify anything that i said please feel free to ask me. Good Luck