I recently got my project car/ daily driver put together......rather wrongly...

It's a 90 Civic Si with a freshened up B16A which you can read about here...

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2268677.

Now for the problem. I have one engine code that it's throwing and that is a Code #14 which is thankfully for the IACV which I know needs a cleaning. The REAL problem is that there was oil leaking from the car's oil pan/flywheel plate area once the car was started and warmed up.

I replaced the oil pan gasket thinking it wasn't seated properly (it was visibly smashed out), but to no avail. My other inclination that I thought of while at work yesterday was what if I should've replaced the rear main seal (that I replaced four years ago and shouldn't have had to replace but hey, who knows at this point right?).

The oil is no longer coming from the deeper side of the oil pan side (the crank pulley side), but it lets loose a pool of oil of steady drips after the car is warmed up, driven five minutes and then turned off. The flywheel looks clean, as in, not having oil thrown all over it, but I'm at my wits end and need suggestions. School starts in 15 days and I want to pull the transmission now if I need to. Thanks for the help and sorry for being longwinded, yet thorough.

 

I would say its coming from the main seal located behind the flywheel.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SD_Lurker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would say its coming from the main seal located behind the flywheel. </TD></TR></TABLE>

chock one up for the main seal. At this point, which I should've mentioned earlier, I DO have a stripped out oil pan bolt, but it tightens up enough to where it shouldn't be the issue that I'm having at all. the only disconcerting thing is that it's on the end where the oil is coming from, and I'm **** retentive which makes me worry that that is the issue even more.

Need more input...

 

Is that stripped bolt on the main seal housing or the actual block?

 

it's one of the sixteen or so oil pan bolts.

 

I understand but the main seal behind the flywheel is an entire housing. Meaning if you bought a new one and the bolt that was stripped happened to be on the housing it would no longer exist being that you changed the entire seal housing.

 

You can also buy a new housing with the seal already in it. They are pretty cheap. Did you say its leaking near the crank pulley when it warms up? Do you have your timing covers on? Only two places it sould be, assuming your head is torqued properly. Cam seals and front main seal. Good luck man!

 

Wait, so first it was leaking from the rear main side of the motor, and after the pan gasket replacement its coming from the front main side? If so, its probbaly the pan gasket again. Did u use a light film of honda bond on BOTH sides of the pan gasket? Remember to not overtighten like i mentioned in your other thread?

 

no no no. It's only leakings out of the transmission side where the rear main is residing. I took the flywheel cover off today and there is clear oil all over the flywheel.

I was only making you all aware that there is a stripped out bolt on the same side that the flywheel cover goes over and that is making the situation a little harder to determine which it is.

 

Gotcha. If its really all over the flywheel then my guess would be rear main. Could also be leaking from the main shaft of the trans but i doubt it b/c it would probably get on your clutch too and cause slippage. It sucks either way, lol.

 

Yes sir it most assuredly does. I wish I could wave a wand at it at this point and remedy the situation, but I suppose it will mandate that I get dirty at least one more time.

Thanks for the identification help.

 

If anyone is still keeping tabs, I'll be taking the tranny off tomorrow to switch out that rear main and see if that takes care of it. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

if the oil was on the back side of the flywheel, then I doubt it was the input shaft bearing/seal going out on the transmission. Good luck with it all.

 

Back side of the flywheel? Meaning the side facing the block or the side facing the transmission?

I got the transmission off with the help of a friend (I hate doing things alone especially when there's no one else around if something bad happens.

It got dark before the clutch and flywheel could come off so I'll be doing that either tomorrow or thursday.

Question. Is it proper to immerse the new seal in oil before you install for up to one hour or is that an old wives tale? Answers would be much appreciated.

 

huh? no, just oil the inner lip up and press or tap it in. Most of the time if its an OEM seal it already has grease and is ready to install right out of the bag.

 

you shouldnt lube it at all. It comes with the grease on it already.

 

Sounds good to me. Thanks for watching this thread B16CRXT and fourthgen, I'll have this thing in with your help in no time.

 

When I had my engine out and tranny off, I removed the oil pan and then removed the rear main seal housing completely. That made it much easier to get the old seal out without scratching the end of the crank.

BTW the old seal I removed was original w/ almost 260K miles on it. So I figured I better go ahead and change it I also installed the engine's 3rd front main seal, and 4th timing belt.

Oh yeah, I also did NOT put any kind of sealant on the oil pan gasket. I just tightened all the nuts/bolts to spec, in steps, and I haven't seen any oil leaking yet in the past 3K miles since I dropped the engine back in.

 

well, I know it's been a WHILE but I've finally had time to get the car worked on.

A friend and I took the tranny off and just the other day my dad and I took the clutch/flywheel off, removed the rear main (which didn't look like it was leaking oil at all, it was a clean surface that the flywheel was mating to).

the thing that looked off was that the oil pan that mounts under the flywheel cover tray look like it was torqued down properly even though the bolts were tight.

Either way we replace the main seal just to be careful about it replaced the oil pan gasket with another one (third one).

I took it down the road and now it doesn't seem to be leaking everywhere. I guess I'll find out after I get to my parking space after school for sure. Thanks for hhelp guys.

 

Any luck?

I have what seems to be the same problem, be great to know if replacing the seal solved your problem.

How long did it take you in total to do the work? Did you need any special tools?

Thanks, Dan

 

Well, we changed it out and that helped. I still can't put an oil pan gasket on very well (I know, what's my problem right?) , but either way the pouring of oil has stopped. I still think it was the oil pan gasket itself leaking badly and coming out of the flywheel cover itself, but who knows. I changed it while I was up under there , which makes sense.

You need a punch and a hammer to get the old seal out of the plate once youget it off there other than that some hondabond or permatex and you should be good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stockbee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I still can't put an oil pan gasket on very well (I know, what's my problem right?) , but either way the pouring of oil has stopped. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's tricky to put on, if any oil is on the mating surfaces then it tends to squish out. Brake cleaner if your friend here, spray away... even some into the engine side. Change some the oil right after running the engine for 5 min or so to remove any contamination from the brake cleaner.