It's the 25th anniversary edition with the 2.2l 4cyl. It's had a bad oil leak since I bought it. ~150,000 miles. I've replaced the oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket, but it still leaks. Honda's are new to me but I know how to turn wrenches. I read about a front balancer shaft oil seal on autozone.come, but don't even know what it is. Any suggestions?

 

what general area is leaking from? could be the rear main seal if its near the transmission. could be front crankshaft seal or even distributor seal...

 

the front balance shaft seal was a common issue on these motors. they can slide completely out of the hole. the fix (along with a new seal) is to add a retainer that holds this seal in place. i think most places sell these along with a timing belt package. this seal, and three others could be leaking beneath your timing belt cover.

if oil is coming from the belt side of the engine i would consider doing a timing belt package/kit. it may sound a little extreme just to fix an oil leak, but it's a 6-8 hour job (...if you know what you're doing. longer if you don't) and it would suck to have to do it all over again when it's time to change the belts.

but before investing in that... if the oil is coming from the trans side you have the distributor o-ring (cheap and easy!) and VTEC solenoid/pressure switch seals [if equipped].

also, how much oil are you using/mileage?

 

sorry it took so long for me to get back. I jacked it up and it looks like oil is coming from all over! it drips down and all falls off of a support bracket. But I see what you mean by possibly coming from the timing belt cover on the left side of the engine. I pulled the rotor off and found a bad seal between it and the cam shaft, so I'll replace that today. (I think that's the distributor O-ring you mentioned.) There was also oil around my spark plugs. I've replaced those little guys once before, maybe this time last year. I think it's just a crappy desine. I'm getting to the point where I'm about to rip it all apart and just start replacing everything I can. Would it be worth changing the timing belt while I'm in there?

 

oh ya, in answer to the how much oil in how many miles question, I haven't kept track. But I just put three quarts in last night. I put a quart in maybe two weeks ago and she was bone dry yesterday.

 

I bet the front main seal is leaking. This seal can cause you to lose a lot of oil in a short period of time and the harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) will sling oil all over the place as you're describing.

 

where is the front main seal?

 

another name for the crankshaft seal. on the front of the oil pump housing (near timing belt)

...and yes, it would be a great time to replace the timing belt and water pump if you're in there doing oil seals.

 

plus, the front main seal is a common issue on the 94-97 accords which is another reason why I'm guessing that.

 

You guys are awesome. The timing belt cover seal is done for. I've got everything pulled apart but I can't get two bolts out. One is in the middle of the cover and the other holds on those bottom pulleys. Any suggestion on how to get the off? How do you hold the pulley still and crank on the bolt?

 

You need the crank pulley tool. Here is a link that has all the info you need https://honda-tech.com/zerothread/1908944

 

I have a similar issue, however, I want to make sure before I start tearing into the engine if it's worth doing it now or wait to just seize up and replace the entire motor. The motor has approximately 210k miles on the chassis. This is the original engine. The engine oil is leaking. Not sure where it is coming from and if it's actually burning. The oil on the ground is clean. There is gunk build up around the valve cover, especially at the distributor. The bottom block has gunk build up. Not sure if that is from an external source or internal. I have used engine cleaner before and they cleaned up fine. Times are tough, but not really financially situated to give a mechanic $2k to do the work and rip me off by telling me what's wrong and the problem still exists. I don't need that kind of headache. Thanks.

 

"75aces"- a bit of a "jack"-pic's would be nice but your issues sounds different. Based upon your description I can only GUESS at dist o-ring or internal dist seal-could be vc gasket. 210K on a Honda, nothing....and the last thing-you don't even state if this is the same model as the op so there could be "other" sources-vetc sol, ect.

 

I will just start a new post. Thanks.

 

I just registered today and not very familiar with the posting protocol. My Accord 97 with 260K miles has been profusely leaking oil for about 2 months now. What I see is that the underneath of the car on the driver side along the car's entire length is covered with oil. Needless to say, I keep keep topping the oil (about 2 quarts every 500 miles). My guess is that the rear main seal is broken, that is between the engine and the transmission. But not sure. When the car is parked after a long drive, I see ground stained with fallen oil droplets along entire length of the car on the driver side. Even the driver side rear tire has become little sticky (the inside tire wall), possibly due to the oil spray. Will be thankful on any advice, suggested repairs and approximate cost. I love this car, still gives 30 mpg. So, I am willing to spend reasonable money. Thanks.

 

This whole post describes my car perfectly. BAD oil leak, coming from drivers side of the engine, oil all down the car. I got under there and can actually see a broken seal. Currently at pep boys to confirm and get an estimate.
Is this a repair I can do myself? First Honda and limited mechanic experience.