After putting my car up on a lift to take some photos of the exhaust system, I noticed an entire metric ***-ton of oil all over my pan and other parts. I do not see any oil north of where the pan meets the block. So my questions: How exactly is the oil pan secured to the block (how many and where)? Is there a gasket used? Could the pan be warped/cracked and if so, is that common? Are there other possibilities that would have the oil pan covered and nowhere else?

Here's a picture of the underside. It's not zoomed in because the picture wasn't for this purpose.

 

oil pan gasket at napa

 

Clean your whole underside and see where it comes from.

Pan is secured to block with nuts around the seam. Lots of nuts, probably close to 20. They do squish a gasket between the pan and block which could be your issue. If someone torques the crap out of the nuts you can split the gasket and have leaks. Could be under torqued too where not sealed enough. Who knows.

Like I said, clean the pan/block/ underside, and just watch where the oil comes from.

If the oil hits your axle it can spray around everywhere too. If you can take a few close up pictures of your oil pan and even your oil cooler. Check your axle for oil spatter too.

 

Torque for the bolts and nuts that secure the oil pan to the block is 8.7FT/LBS. There is NOT an oil pan gasket, but there is a seal at the trans side (#13 in the parts view below).



#13 is part# 11251-P5K-000 GASKET, OIL PAN $2.62

You use Hondabond to make a gasket for the rest of the pan

 

WHAT?? no gasket?? thats ****ed up. I have a gasket 100% for sure, unless its hondabond all the way around. It looks too uniform and its black though.

 

4th gens = gasket; 5th gens = hondabond

 

5th gen = gasket + hondabond. The gasket is shown in the picture.

 

Ah, that cleared things up well. I knew I wasn't carazy LOL

 

instead of hondabond you should be using ultra flange sealant. It is a honda product the dealer will have in stock. for best results let the sealant dry overnight.

But take a really good look at the cam plug and dist oring with the car on the ground. those parts leaking will make a mess underneath. If those are leaking replace those first and clean the engine underneath w/ brakeclean and recheck in 1k. be careful not to spray the o2 sensor w/ the brakeclean.

Those 5th gen pans just dont leak like the steel ones in the 4th gens.

 

i just replaced my pan on my fourth gen. make sure to look at the spot on the pan thats right underneath the exhaust. mine didnt have any visible leaks but it was rotted out and leaking there. as soon as i put oil in it was coming out. it was hard to find cuz i couldnt really see even after dropping the exhaust.

id say i had about 16 bolts for the pan. i also had to take off the clutch inspection cover (3), lowered the exhaust at the collector (3), and lowered the brace going from the front to back in the middle (6...dont know what its called).

i used some rtv AND a rubber gasket. i ALWAYS use rtv with rubber gaskets even though it isnt necessary.

 

Just that tiny section though with the gasket. Tighten the bolts in sequenence and in steps. I usually use a torque wrench on mine since im a perfectionist with some ****.

 

Everything should be done using a torque wrench pretty much.
Cam cap/plug could be the culprit too..thats a good point!

 

o ring behind the oil_cooler/oil_filter mount was wear my oil leak came from... took me over a year to figure it out.