my 96 ek hatch has an oil leak and it seems that its leaking by the dip stick tube it feels pretty loose but could it also be behind the timing cover? and leaking down because its not anywhere else but by the bottom of the dipstick tube and if its a gasket how long will it take to replace on one my own? a few hours??

this oil leak has also been on the car before i bought it a year ago

 

Are you sure the oil is not coming from the valve cover gasket? I had a similar leak and it was the valve cover gasket. Post pictures.

 

no its not coming from the valve cover its way lower than that to be the valve cover. maybe another gasket? im not sure though im thinking the oil gasket if anything? if not im not sure i need help bad though

 

you might actually be right about the valve cover.. because the 5 bolts on the valve cover only 1 out of those 5 torque down the other 4 spin freely i know why one of them spins but the others im not sure yet ill have to wait until tomorrow to check it out and im not sure how i can be able to torque down the bolts but the tube that the dipstick sits in is pretty loose

 

If those spin then they are most likely broken. You will have to take off valve cover and see if you can get those bolts out.

You will need new bolts from honda, when you put them back in make sure oyu do not go too tight they snap easy. Get a new gasket as well.

 

The bolts are probably snapped in half.

 

@ OP: be careful with that last valve cover bolt, if that one snaps your car isn't going anywhere for a while.

Yeah, the threaded tips are probably snapped off inside the head.
It sucks that Honda didn't use studs instead bolts on these motors like they did with other motors.

 

so just take it to a honda dealership? or would i be able to contact them and have them sent to me? because ive done valve work on the car a while ago and knew that a few of them spun but i didnt remember that 4 of them didnt and none of them looked snapped ??

would you guys recommend RTV? or a real gasket?

and could that solve my oil leak problem you think?

 

Get a real gasket from the dealer, might as well get spark plug gaskets as well. Or you can order them online and get it shipped.

As for the bolts when you take the valve cover off see where the bolts snapped if the did indeed, you might be lucky and if it did not break flush you will be able to grip the bolts and get them out.

 

Spark plug gasket?? And you think they would have all this stuff for a 96 still or theyd have to order it and i pick it up from them? What if the bolts didnt snap? What would be the other reason they spin freely?

 

Spark plugs tubes have round rubber gaskets when you take off the valve cover look at each hole from the bottom and you will see them in each hole. Yes, this is all available, check with your local dealer they might have to order, mine takes like a day to get it.

Why spin freely otherwise, don't know. You need to get the valve cover off and look, it is a simple job.

When they spin, can you pull and lift the bolts out by hand?

 

i can pull one of them out on its own the others like catch the threads but dont tighten down and the one i can pull out its because the "tube" it goes into is broken i was going to try and fix that with some rtv or something but the other 3 that spin just spin they will come out when i loosen them but when i tighten them they spin and spin and spin...

 

get a gasket from Autozone they ahve good gaskets 16 bucks comes with everything

pull out the last bolt on the valvecover and check if theyre snapped if they are not than your holes are stripped also for bolts like that i hate waiting for dealerships to order them so i go to the junkyard and get a bunch just incase


You cross threaded your bolt holes.... off to the store to get some retreading tools

 

alright today i will go out and pull off my valve cover and check them out thanks for all the help guys! and as far as the dip stick tube goes its loose do you know if i can tighten it? or is it on there like with a glue?

 

Replace your valve cover studs, get a valve cover gasket kit. If it takes more than an hour to fix, I would be extremely surprised.

 

Unless the holes are stripped out?

 

exactly everyone seems to be ignoring this fact that the head is made out of aluminum and it is easy to strip.... get new bolts if they tigthen great if they keep spinning well theres your problem dont force them down either if they dont tighten iwth fingers while the vc is off than retread the holes

 

This is why people should use a torque wrench and tighten to specifications. Anyone who does ANY mechanical work on a car should own a torque wrench (and probably 2 - inch and foot lb.) Almost every fastener should be torqued to spec. Otherwise you better keep helicoils, extra fasteners and your seatbelt buckled (and be ready for your car to leak, vibrate, rattle, fall apart and run like crap).

 

it is the valve cover studs i pulled all the bolts out none of them are snapped and on one of the bolts there was aluminum from the stud inside the thread on the bolt but the rest didnt have that?

how can i replace them? and how much will it cost?

 

I'm sure they can, but the bolts can snap too. I sold a Y7 cam cap to a guy on here who snapped a VC bolt (one or two of the VC bolt threads into the caps).

 

Maybe a longer bolt can catch some good threads. Either that or you'll have to *carefully* install helicoils (dot not drop inserts into your engine!). Get a torque wrench.

 

helicoils?? the bolts are perfect its just what the bolt fits into the stud i guess? the aluminum stuff its all messed up inside im sure its not all the threading but most of it per stud and how would i replace the studs? would i have to replace a whole big part or can i replace just a stud?

 

A bolt fits into a stud? I thought those were both male threaded.

You said there was aluminium inside the threads on a bolt. To me that says a casting was stripped and is in need of thread repair (helicoil). Please elaborate.

 

yeah i messed that up the male end on the stud wont fit into the male end of the opposite end?(not sure what the female end is called)
i would have to get a helicoil to fix that problem??

 

I had a leak in my valve cover gasket and it made it look like there was oil leaking from a few spots around the engine. I would try that first its cheap and easy to replace