Wondering if I could get any advice on what might be the problem. I have enough oil coming out of my engine that when I am stopped at a stoplight I get wafts of smoke coming from under the hood. It appears that the smoke is coming up from behind the engine, but it is very difficult to tell where because there is oil on everything. Oil pan, exhaust pipes, it is pretty much all over the bottom of the engine. Does not seam to be coming from the oil filter, darn. Here are some pics, any ideas would be very helpful.

 

looks like your CV axle boots are split, or have split at one time. and possibly an oil cooler leak. you really need to change or rebuild your axles if your boots are split, and then clean the engine really well, so you can track down any leaks easier

 

valve cover gasket??

 

99% positive its the Oil cooler O-ring ....

 

probably main seal

 

Oil cooler o ring. mine pooled up under that sensor behind that water pipe when it was leaking. I would bet 20$ pay pal on it

 

Speculation leaks:

Oil cooler O ring
Oil pressure sending unit

Pretty sure is leaking:

Oil pan gasket

 

vtec seal... mostly.

 

looks like the oil cooler O-ring to me as well

 

Thanks guys, sorry for the delayed response, life, anyway, I will check out the oil cooler O ring in the helms. How can I be sure that is what it is? If it is a pain to replace I rather not guess.

 

just pull the o ring out and see if its broken. the same thing happened to me, and i paid 5 bucks at my local honda dealer for the ring and voila, no more oil leaking anywhere

 

i would say ur valve cover gasket

 

I do not think it is the valve cover gasket as it was just replaced 6 months ago, the oil mess starts about 6-9 inches below the valve cover gasket and it pretty thick there, maybe just old from spilling the oil change refill and just gets more wet as you get closer to the ground. Thinking the wind as I drive down the freeway is blowing it everywere behind the engine. I am going to try and get a better pick of the cooler, might have to do that tomorrow night. How hard is it to pull the cooler, how does it come off?

 

In this first pic you can see the oil on the exhaust pipe. You can’t tell but there are three drops hanging down and since I raised the car yesterday there was about 10 drops of fresh oil on the ground, so it has been sitting for 28 hours and still leaking without the engine running. The second pic shows the cooler and filter from a distance, there is a little drop of oil hanging down from the cooler. The third pic is probably a better pic of the cooler. So is the consensus still the same? Cooler, or something higher and worse like a head gasket?

 

Def change that cooler O ring and work from there. That thing is filthy.

 

you see smoke because the oil is dripping onto your HOT exhaust

 

It's not the kind of thing you pull off and check. If you pull it off, you replace it. You never reuse it if it "looks ok." If you've got the money, do the oil cooler o ring and oil pan gasket and see if you're still leaking

 

All right, thanks guys, did a search on the O ring. They say it is one big bolt but different posts gave different sizes, 32mm and 30mm. Which one is it as I have to go out and buy the socket. Plus, is it a deep socket or the normal size. Also how do you remove the oil pan?

 

Got the money? The "O" ring is like 5 dollers at honda lol. If he can't afford that he shouldn't be driving a gas powered vehicle.

But yeah, to the op, you pull that seal off your oil cooler you best be replacing it. By the looks of things anyway, your seal must be shot unless the oil is comming from somewhere above the oil filter, which you'd be able to see.

I believe its 32 mm. I'll check...I dunno why everybody keeps mixing this up

 

I just replaced my o-ring yesterday. The socket size to pull the cooler off is 30mm and you don't need a deep socket. The o-ring at honda is really only $2.50.

 

Deep Socket or normal? Where did you get the socket, autoparts store? My biggest is 17mm. Thanks by the way.

 

You don't need a deep socket. I got the socket at Advance Auto Parts, ~$7.

 

Thanks, I saw that you said not a deep socket in the last note and was going to edit my post. Another question though, isn't this 30mm bolt attached to the pipe that the filter screws on too? If so, how does a normal 30mm socket have the room to fit over that pipe and still grab the bolt? Maybe I don't know where that bolt is, but that pipe is pretty long.

 

i just did mine, i used an axle nut socket (long). i too, cant remember if it was 30 or 32 \ how much oil are you leaking out? i would do the oil cooler o-ring just for peace of mind. i did mine and it cost me like...3 bucks from the dealer.

 

...also, if its smoking while youre driving it sounds like you have a constant leak. if it still does that after you replace the o-ring you may want to lower your exhaust and make sure your oil pan isnt starting to leak.