Ok, so far no one has been able to answer my question of why the seals in my engine keep going out. I had the rear main seal, pan gasket, valve cover gasket and several others in my engine replaced. Now it is leaking again. I put in a crankcase breather and a new PCV valve (mine was shot) and the leaking seems to have gotten better. However, it's still leaking. My mechanic is willing to back up his work for free, but I don't want to replace all the seals just to have them go out again.

So what is the issue? Not entirely sure where the oil is coming from. I did an oil change recently so my oil level and amount is good, it isn't leaking out of the cam cap/v-tech solonoid at all. Not sure where it is leaking, haven't been able to pinpoint it. Some days it likes leaking over my exhaust, sometimes from the oil pan, some days from the tranny/engine seam. At least that's what it seems like.

Can anyone finally answer this question?

 

Rear main seal, if you're not very careful with putting it in it either wont seat right or you could damage it. All others sound like not using liquid gasket where needed and over torquing. You need to look a little more closely at the oil leaking on the exhaust because it could be oil cooler lines or the filter and not the oil pan.

 

I would first determine where exactly the leak is coming from. Sounds from your description you havent pinpointed it yet.

I would suggest pressure washing and degreasing your entire engine. Afterwards you can get a spray leak detector from auto parts store. It sprays on white powder and makes it a lot easier to pinpoint the leak.

Like minilo said the rear main seals are very easy to damage when installing. If the mechanic says he will back up his work I would either let him diagnose where the leak is coming from or do it yourself then go to him with your findings.

Good luck.

 

I'm willing to bet that it's the oil cooler O ring. It's found between the block and oil filter. Take off the oil filter then you need a 32mm wrench (If I remember correctly) to loosen the nut holding the cooler onto the block; between is a large O ring. Very cheap to replace and very easy.

I had the same exact problem. The oil was leaking down from there onto my exhaust and all over my oil pan and tranny. After I fixed that leak I found my cam seal was leaking as well. The three most common areas preludes leak is from the vtec solenoid, cam seal, and oil cooler.

 

Yeah, sometime when you install the rear main seal, you just gotta make sure you don't **** the seal at all or it'll leak again. dRiv3R said, it might be your oil cooler o-ring if it drips on your down pipe and smells oil burning. Mine did that too and replaced the o-ring and everything was fine again.

 

Hmm. Well no, I have not pinpointed the exact location of the leak yet, although from the looks of it it seems to be dripping everywhere. Never even thought about an oil cooler o-ring. I'll have to investigate it. Where would the cam seal be leaking from, if it was?

 

DO U smell any gas in your oil? Bad rings that leak fuel will ruin seals in no time flat,just an idea.Good luck

 

Cam seal leaking would be the intake cam opposite of the timing belt, the cap there is notorious for leaks on all honda engines.

 

Yup. It'll be leaking from the intake cam which is next to the distributor.

 

ah, well it isn't leaking from there. And yes, I do smell a hint of gas in the oil, but i didn't see any gas in oil during oil change and it doesn't smell really bad like gas.

Personally I think it's a bit slow overall compared to my buddies nearly stock lude, but I can't really tell. I suppose I should get a compression test but I have no way of getting one. Not even sure if my mechanic has the equip for it.

 

Take the car to a carwash, hose it down very thoroughly, take it to the shop, lift it up in the air, and leave it running for 30 minutes, the leak will show.

Sounds like an oil cooler O-Ring though. $2.97 is the cost of the part, it takes 5 minutes to change, and they leak all the time on H22s.

 

thanks guys, the car is in the shop right now (didn't want to risk taking the 9 hour trip with it out to my college) so I'll have to inform my mechanic about the oil cooler o-ring. Maybe he won't have to replace all the seals again. I also need my clutch fixed anyway, and I don't have the time for it, so I'll just let him mess with it.

 

Get a new mechanic. If he can't figure it, out, go somewhere else.

The fact that you are posting on here for help means that you dont have much confidence in your mechanic in the first place.

If he was any good, you wouldnt be posting.

Any legitimate shop will back there work up if they messed up. Its nothing to boost.

 

what about your oil pan being over-torqued.... maybe the leak is from the gasket being squeezed out of position..........its what happened to me

 

He is backing up his work, that's why I'm still going to him. Although he's only willing to back up the work he already did, not any work he didn't do, such as finding and fixing the real problem. But the work he already did was rip apart half the engine and replace all the seals so it still saves me a grand.

 

HOW MANY MILES ON ENGINE?

 

Just because someone backs up their work doesnt mean that they know what they are doing. Shitty mechanics do shitty work. Thats why you have to go more than once for the same thing.

When you pay to have something fixed it should be done on the first time. If that fails than you need to look for a new mechanic.

Your mechanic may not be qualified or not have enough experience to work on your oil seal problem. He may even be experimenting on your car, and if he breaks it, well dont worry "He backs up his shitty work" lol.

I rarely ever go to a mechanic unless I need machine work. And when I do, I go into several different places and tell them what I want done, and the one who answers with the simplest easiest answers is the one who I give my business too. People who bullshit you with the "Its ok, I warranty my work" are hardly worth talking too.

I dont know about you, but I dont like to be bothered with the same problem more than once. Lol.

 

No amount of PCV/seal replacement is going to stop an engine with excessive blowby (needs rings/hone) from blowing out seals. Where my 5 dolla?

 

Perform a leak down test to assess the condition of your piston rings.

 

Smell of gas in the oil.... Leaking injector??? Gas will leak through good rings also.