Car is a 99 Civic with teh almighty D16Y7. Now, I've heard both of these terms, crank seal and oil pump seal, are they the same thing? Is there a seal on the "engine side" of the oil pump, and maybe another oil seal inside the engine on the end of the crankshaft if you remove it?

I have an oil leak on the driver's side of the oil pan, just at the bottom of the lower timing cover. It's not too bad yet, from what I can tell, only ~.5 qt. low at the last oil change. Is this something to worry about, something that will get worse fast?

I've looked in the Helms about replacing the oil pump seal and it looks like you have to remove pretty much everything you would to do a timing belt, including removing the timing belt, and then remove the oil pan, the pickup, and then the pump to get to the seal. Is this correct? How much would I look at spending to have this done at a private mechanic? How much of a pain in the *** is it to do it myself?

TIA

 

Monday morning bump

 

anyone have any ideas about this??

 

the oil pump seal and crank seal are the same on a civic. some people call a rear main a crank seal also, but it is on the other side of the engine.

edited: typos


Modified by boostedcivicsir at 1:04 AM 3/15/2005

 

I also have a small leak at the same area on my 99 hatch. Not enough to see a loss in oil level, but I guess I should get it fixed.

 

So how much of a task is this to replace? Do you have to remove the oil pan as well as everything to remove, including removing the timing belt? How much would it be to replace at a mechanic, roughly?

 

The front main seal on my 99 hatch (stock Y7) distorted after about 45k miles - dealership fixed it under warranty and has held up fine for the last 180k miles.

Since I did not replace it, but asked the same Q as you, I can tell you that you do not need to remove the oil pan. You only need to remove as mush as is needed to gain access to the oil seal. You then use something to extract it from teh oil pump housing and then install the new one - all without having to remove the oil pump itself.

It costs about as much to replace that seal as it does for a timing belt job less the timing belt parts.

 

Thanks EEChris, big help.

So is there a DIY anywhere on this? I checked the Helms, and it appears to assume that you already have the oil pan off and you can remove the oil pump and get at the seal that way. Seems like i heard one time, somewhere, about using a screwdriver to pry the old seal out, and then a big socket and a rubber mallet/hammer to lightly tap it back in flush. Will that work?

I would presume I'm going to have to remove the timing belt again, as I have to get behind the crank sprocket for the timing belt. I think I might even have to remove that part too.

 

You're probably going have to remove the timing belt in order to remove the crank sprocket to get to the seal - thats for sure.

I want to say that a dental pick can be used to get the seal out - one thing you don't want to do is scratch the crank snout or the pump housing.

I know of no DIYer or How-to for this task though.

 

Just for my own sanity, #17 on the pic is the correct oil seal right?




Well I can't imagine it would be too hard to do, sounds like as long as you don't scratch the crank of oil pump housing you would be ok. Just have to be very careful when getting in there. Wonder how you remove the crank sprocket? Wonder if that would be as much of a pain in the *** to get off as the crank pulley?

 

Here is a link to a DIY timing belt & water pump change in a Del Sol (click here). You will first have to remove most of the same stuff, so its the first part of the process. I have been told that you can remove the oil pump seal with small flat heads. Then you just use the old seal & a big socket to push the new seal into place (make sure it goes in the correct distance).

The hardest part of this project will probably be getting the crank pulley off. Tain't easy. Once the crank pulley is off, the timing belt cog just slides right off. Make sure you don't mix up the T-Belt guides (they can go on both ways, but only one is correct). If you mess that up it will destroy your T-Belt...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Make sure you don't mix up the T-Belt guides (they can go on both ways, but only one is correct). If you mess that up it will destroy your T-Belt...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Talking about the cupped washers? Yeah, make sure they go on the right way during re-assembly.

Also, isn't there a woodruff key on the crank snout to keep the timing belt gear from shifting around? Don't loose that (assuming its there).

And yes, #17 is the front main seal.

 

Well I did just replace the timing belt ~2000 miles ago, so I know my way around there fairly well. Hopefully the crank pulley won't be as hard to get off since it's only been a few months since I've had it off.

I'll have to check the Helmss about the cupped washers, and remember to take a pic of them before I remove them.

There is a woodruff key on the crank snout that mates with the crank pulley. I don't know if there is one for the timing belt gear as well or not. I guess I'll find out if I end up changing this.

Thank you very much for all your help.