I figure I would introduce myself while trying to get a question answered. I'm 25 in the Army stationed up in Alaska, married with 2 kids. They are back home in Texas, long story as to why they cant be here. This is my first Honda, its actually the first car that I've owned other than Fords and Chevy's.
So heres my problem, I just bought a 90 Accord, and it has started leaking oil from the back of the motor. I cant see as to where its coming from but I can see where the oil is landing and running to the ground. The oil is running on the part circled in yellow. Just wantin gto know if there are any know spots that leak in that area to look for before I go tear into it. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...18641432_n.jpg

 

A few ideas....could be as simple as the vc gasket leaking from the "cam hump"......cam seal or a few others.

My suggestion, clean up the area, pull the upper timing belt cover. The start the engine and look/watch and see if you can tell where it is coming from.

 

good suggestion. in most cases i would agree with some level of inspection but with the regularity of leaks from this area on these motors, the age of the vehicle and the dirt cheap prices on valve cover gasket sets for them i would give the whole engine bay a thorough cleaning (i like purple power or simple green cut 1:2 with water in a spray bottle), do the gasket set (with a bit of grey RTV in the corners) then monitor regularly for leaks. this way the upper most potential leaks are eliminated and others from lower down can be identified easily.

 

Its either that or the cam gear seal. I would put some high mileage oil in it and not worry about it if its not a bad leak. They can easily resolve themselves if you use a right oil.

Just don't use synthetic, that can cause leaks.

 

I appreciate all the imput guys, gives me a starting point. Yesterday I replaced the valve cover gasket and still leaking. So tomorrow Im going to try what Lost Again said. While I'm in there I will be replacing the cam seal, crank seal and replacing the timing belt( as long as I pinpoint the leak and get i fixed). Are there any other seals in there y'all would recommend? Hondamark35, I picked up some simple green today, thats another thing I will tackle tomorrow time permitting.

 

there are two seals realated to the balance shaft system. one is a lip seal on the front side (of the vehicle) shaft similar to the cam seal only smaller in diameter, and the rear is a shaped o-ring type gasket similar to what's used on the water pump. most timing belt "kits" will include these.

 

 

Looks like you took down the motor. the leak seems to be in the camshaft seal from what i can see on my 1990 accord. i looked at a pic of the front end torn down and you can see an opening below and to the right of the cam housing area. my guess is that is a design by Honda to let you know the cam seal is bad. the flat spot on your pic is where it would leak on. dig out the old seal after you remove the cam gear and push in a new one. good luck and watch out for ice fog.

 

what i want to know is "can you take off the cam gear with the belt attached and leave in the lower timing belt cover". if i zip tie the belt on to the cam and keep it suspended, can i just slide it off to replace that bad cam bearing seal? at my age (60) i have a hard time getting under it working on my back. the shop wants $500 to do the work and thats a week of my retirement pay. anyone got any ideas?

 

i just use a paint pen (white or yellow are best) to mark the belt and cam sprocket so that they can be realigned at re-assembly.

step-by-step:

-remove valve cover
-remove upper timing cover
-mark belt and sprocket
-remove 12mm cam bolt
-slide cam sprocket off
-pry out seal
-insert new seal
...reverse.

if there's trouble with getting the timing belt back on the sprocket, loosen the tensioner bolt accessible through the small hole in the lower timing cover.

 

what's the best way to remove the cam bolt without the cam turning ? or will it undo without spinning ? I've always wondered this

 

There are actually tools made for this. the one i've used before was like a metal sling shot/wishbone shape with two pins protruding from one side. the pins are just long enough to catch the "spokes" of the cam sprocket so you can hold it still.

i normally just use a long, flat-head screwdriver through the sprocket and braced against the head somewhere.

 

ya i got one of those...otc 6613 i think it is a spanner wrench was going to use it on my camry power steering pump




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I took some white paint and marked three spots on the sprocket and the belt. I then took 3 zip ties to make sure it would stay in place. I took a screwdriver and wedged it in so when I took the cam bolt loose it held. the cam slid off ok. The problem may be the seal but it looks like someone fought putting the front and rear cam sprocket covers. I now think that at least part of the problem is the upper timing covers and their rubber seals. The problem I am having is the bolt behind the "beam" that the motor mount hooks to. I cannot move it to replace the upper inside cover that goes behind the cam sprocket. I am going to head to the pick a part to look at a few that are torn down to get a better answer.

 

I had some what of the same problem but on the left side and it poured oil out, couldn't keep any in. Turns out it was the balancer shaft seal that went out. The new one came with a retainer to keep seal in.

 

Well I got the leak fixed, it was the cam seal. Glad I got that out of the way, thanks for all the input guys, it really helped.

 

There was a recall on the front shaft retainer.