I just bought a 97 accord off a guy and come to find out has a oil leak and overheated a couple days ago because it was very low on coolant and there is a leak but i couldnt find anything under the hood. has anybody else had these problems?? it has almost 180k miles.

 

OK, where is the oil leak located? How hot did it get? I think we have all had these problems in the past with Honda's????

 

are there brown spots of oil in the coolant? is the oil milky white in color at all? these are signs of a blown head gasket but your not giving enough info what area of the car is the oil leaking from? how does it run?

 

Refill the radiator and have it pressure tested (you can sometimes rent the tool set from larger Local Auto Parts houses) .
Accords are pretty consistant on Radiator Cores rotting out facing front, they first loose the fins between the tubes and then the tubes fail.
If you find nothing there, you may have a bad water pump.
The wierd thing about water pumps is that they almost always leak during the night when the car cools off.
It has to do with the orientation of the water pumps shaft seal.
Wash off the engine and drive the car.
That will make it easier to spot your oil leak.

P

 

Thanks... Well I really am not sure, I am a girl so I dont know too much.
Everybody so far has said it is the rear main seal thats leaking...
And for the coolant leak i looked under the hood and didnt see anything so i am guessing its somewhere else? the temp gage goes up and down but still thats not good... as long as I keep oil and coolant in it, it runs fine lol

but still its sucks haveing to worry about all that when its so cold

 

go buy engine gunk from local part store. if you have car ramps. put car on that or jack stands. spray car from top of engine and the bottom with gunk. follow instructions on bottle. spray down with water. let it dry. if your trying not to get too wet. place a mat or something you dont use anymore under the car. turn car on and let it run. see if you see oil leaking. use flash light if needed. if none of these ideas work. like everyone else before my post said. what color is the oil. color of coolant. if temp gauge goes up, does it go back down if heat is running on high? ect... OR, go to local parts store. buy repair manual for accord. $20. good luck

 

You knew enough to ask the right questions; so don't be so hard on yourself.
Ok, granted your Dad wasn't a Mechanic and you didn't grow up with a tool box and a multimeter; but you can still take what info we may pass along and direct your local auto tech to look in that direction.

A coolant system pressure tester looks like a shortend Bicycle Pump on steroids with a fitting on the end of a hose which takes the place of the radiator Cap. The drill is to fill the radiator and then pressurize it. If there are any leaks, it forces the issue and makes leaks apparent which would normally be experienced while driving. Look for a quickly forming puddle.

The water pump is slightly more problamatic in that it normally leaks under no pressure once the system cools. The most commom way of spotting it is to look for a tattletail green streak which often forms at the weep hole just next to the water pump body.

There are far more common areas that leak oil than the Main Seal. It is not a high incident component. I would suggest looking elsewhere.

P