Well after a long winter (and now half of summer) building a new motor for my car i finally got it up and running to find the cam seal leaking a smidge.

Went out and bought two new cam seals (figured if im doing one, i might as well do the other). Got them both swapped out, put a thin coat of honda bond on the cam cap as well as the head before re assembly. (Yes, all the oil was cleaned off the head before doing this)

Anyways, got it all back together and fired it up. It went from a slow trickle to POURING oil out of the cam seal.

My question:
Are the cam seals two different sizes for some reason?
Possible the head was line bored for some reason?
Cam cap out of round?

What are the possibilities? What are some things i should look for next time i tear it apart?
All surfaces are clean, no contaminants, no nicks/chips/gouges.

BTW: The seals that's leaking is the intake cam. Exhaust cam hasn't leaked a drop.

The old seal that came out was CAKED in rtv/honda bond. It had quite the layer built up around it, so I'm not too sure why.

Out of an entire build, this is the only issue so I'm pretty happy about it, but it's still gotta get fixed.

Any info posted is appreciated.

 

bump.

Tore it all back down and still haven't found anything obvious as to why it's leaking.

 

are u useing honda seals?

 

The exhaust cam seal is honda, the intake one was from napa (their highest line they offered) because honda parts was closed yesterday.

Monday i'm planning on going on honda and talking to them about it, my best guess is the cam seals must be slightly different for some reason, or theirs a problem with this head.

As mentioned, the previous seal had quite a bit of honda bond/rtv built up around (my guess is it was there because the previous person had this same issue and just built it up to get it to seal).

 

was the cam scored up were it goes through the seal?

 

Nope, cam is good and clean, there was a touch of rtv on it but it wasn't where the seal rides, and its cleaned off now.

I just noticed i didnt mention it previously, but this is on the cam gear side closest to cylinder 1. The seal on the dizzy side closest to cylinder 4 is doing fine.

Am i missing a step to this? Does the seal need to ride all the way in up against the lip, or does it sit out towards the edge, flush with the outer part of the head? Right now its kind of in the middle of the two (which seamed right to me, based on all other seals i've done), which i could of done wrong?

I'm just looking for some answers so i dont have to keep tearing it apart. getting the timing belt off/on is kind of a PITA with the motor in the car (ej8)

 

i ahd the same problem...i had a lil puddle of oil on the ground. Just buy straight oem cam seam and put some hondabond. Mine never leaked after

 

Found the issue after going to honda, napa, checkers, etc. and asking a few questions, along with getting OEM SEALS.


The aftermarket companies (napa, checkers, etc.) only sell cam seals for up to the SI model prelude, they list a 2.2vtec, however, the seals they sell are only 28mm Outside Diameter where as honda's specs for the h22 cam seals are actually 29mm Outside Diameter

Haven't got it back together yet, but im confident this will solve my problem.

 

How long do the seals last before needed to be changed, I’m looking to buy a 4th gen prelude and just looking into the problems with them, the main one I’m seeing is the cam seal leaking

 

There is no specific interval. It's based upon multiple factors and condition of the head. When in doubt order (if possible anymore) camshaft seals for the H22A if you take it apart, or if the engine has seen some serious mileage (150,000KM +)