I'm trying to trace down an oil leak (I think I have a few) so I cleaned off the oil pan. After driving it for a few miles, I checked again. It looks like a leaky gasket, but I wanted to get a second opinion before I tear it apart. ('99 HX)

Before pics:




After pics:

 

I just replaced a pan on a 98 EX that looked exactly like that. You'll need the pan gasket and exhaust gaskets. You may have to remove the stiffeners if so equipped. Honda bond recommended. Remember to put some on the bolts or it will leak. You will need an inch pound torque wrench to do it properly. The oil may be leaking down from above but changing the pan gasket will eliminate it as a possibility. Those aluminium pans often get stripped drain plugs might want to repair the pan threads or replace the pan if so. Get some acetone and a roll of paper towels. The baffle inside the pan is razor sharp be careful if you go cleaning in there.

 

yea, you need to change it. its easy, 15 bolts-- the ones on the side are longer to hold it for you to reassemble.

It appears like you have more then just that gasket leaking, but its an easy quick fix. Take your time and crank it down evenly.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure the cam and crank seals are leaking too, and maybe the main seal. I need to replace the timing belt anyway, so I was going to replace those three seals and see how it does after that.

 

DO YOU HAVE TO TORQUE THE PAN BOLTS TO SPEC. IVE HEARD IF NOT TORQUED PROPERLY IT WILL LEAK????

 

Good luck dropping the transmission to get to the rear one.

 

Yeah I'm not going to replace the rear main seal anytime soon. That looks like more of a PITA than I want to deal with.

Yeah that would make sense. Think about what the oil pan bolts are doing. They're squishing a the gasket between the engine and the oil pan. The gasket is one uniform thickness, and oil pan and the engine are straight and even. So if one point on the oil pan is closer to the engine than another point, the gasket would have to be either thicker or thinner at that point to fill the gap properly. Torquing all of the bolts to the same spec should keep the oil pan a uniform distance from the engine, so the gasket would seal properly. This would also explain why a bent or warped oil pan would never seal up completely.

 

Keep in mind you are tightening down on a piece of rubber. It's not like you are tightening a metal mount or bracket or something where the torque can go up to 40 or 50 ft lbs to keep the joint from vibrating loose. If you tighten down on that rubber more than. 9 ft lbs it will just start squeezing itself out of the flange area.... ....

 

Use a 1/4 inch drive And convert to Inchpounds for the pan gasket and other small bolts with delicate gaskets.. your torque will be MUCH more accurate going that route.. I Know this from experience using Snap-on fresh calibrated wrenches of different drive sizes... I use the 1/4 inch drive anytime i need precision...

 

Ii bought the craftsman 75 ft lb beam wrench for smaller stuff. Turns out , deep in the instructions, it says the advertised +- 4% accuracy only applies from 20% to 100% of capacity. So 20% of 75 is 15.... Crap, wrench isn't guaranteed accurate until 15 ft lbs and more. 5 to 15 ft lbs is where accuracy is critical on small fasteners and steel on aluminum joints lik spark plugs.

 

Yeah 8.7'lbs is an awkward range for beam-style torque wrenches. I have a 1/4" drive torque wrench, but it only goes from 0-60"lbs.

Andy - I think I have the same 3/8" drive torque wrench.

 

I'd avoid the crank and cam seals unless they really are leaking. Those can last forever.

 

Those pans have the gasket recessed inside a groove in the pan so its not as critical as some, but still, always use proper torque.

 

I'll know for sure when I replace the timing belt, but it appears they're leaking pretty badly. All the leaks together are about 1/4 qt per week.

 

Thats what I thought too but when the T-belt was off the seals were dry as a bone looked like new, the pan gasket was where it was coming from, right where it dips down around the oil pump.

also, the rear main seal was tricky when I had the housing sitting on a table. You're supposed to use a feeler gauge to get the depth clearance right when driving it in. PITA can't imagine doing it in the car unless it was leaking like niagra falls and you had to (anything is better at that point).