Got a 96 Accord EX (F22B1) and have been plagued by an oil leak/burning. Its been getting harder to start and I was thinking valve stem seals so I replaced those last week. However I cheated, and didn't take the head off to do it...and now I'm starting to regret that 'shortcut.'

It's still hard to start. I have oil pooling right behind the water pump. On the topside of the front case there's a little well/milled area where the cylinder dimensions are stamped that has a constant stream of fresh oil. I've replaced my camshaft seal and valve cover. I'm thinking its either the front case (unlikely given there shouldn't be oil pressure) or the corner of cylinder one's head gasket is leaking. I have flawless compression, no codes, and get 25-30 mpg, and clean coolant. At this point I don't see much alternative to tearing the front case off and doing a head gasket but thought I'd give a shout out to the forum to see what you all thought and what experiences you've had. BTW its a manual and I just rolled 205k. Balance shaft, both crank seals, distributor 0-ring, oil pressure sending unit, VTEC solenoid gaskets, and oil pan gaskets have been done. What the hell else could be leaking?!? To my knowledge there's not oil fed through the intake is there...never had the head or intake off?

Thanks in advance!

 

Without knowing exactly where you are referring to, my first guess would be something leaking at the oil pump.

http://www.hondapartscheap.com/parts...p-oil-strainer

rockauto has an oil pump gasket kit from Beck Arnley part number 0396351 for your car

pics would be great

 

Ok finally got a photo uploaded...

To the bottom you have the timing belt/top of valve cover. You're looking at a milled/dimpled area on the top of the front cover. The shiny surface is my new water pump. This is very high on the motor and above the oil pump. If I wipe off the milled low spot and start the car up it will quickly pool oil up again.

Despite my maintenance I have oil all over the backside of the motor and its nearly impossible to tell where its coming from. Its been a while since I've replaced it, but I really don't think all this oil is coming from the valve cover gasket. It seems to be either coming from the front case or the head gasket. As I've mentioned before I have perfect compression and the car runs like a top once I turn it over long enough that it'll start. I still need to replace the spark plugs and I suppose my oxygen sensors are probably covered in soot from before I replaced the valve stem seals...could explain why its hard to start.

I've just never heard of a head gasket leaking outwards and not leaking into the cylinders or mixing oil with coolant. Any input would be appreciated, preferably from people with actual first hand experience and not just trolls telling me to run some intake cleaner and go to a car wash. I suppose I'll end up taking the front case off and doing the head gasket, I already have the seals for the oil pump...just wish I'd done it all last week when I had it apart.

 

still no photo

 

My vote - either the vc gasket is leaking or the cam seal is.

Clean it up a bit. Pull the upper timing cover and start the engine and look for where the oil is coming from.

 

Ok finally got some time for an update...

It was definitely the head gasket leaking oil. I of course failed to take pictures of the bottom side of the head, but there were two obvious clean spots on the outer edges of numbers one and four cylinders that had no carbon where hot exhaust gasses were escaping past the head gasket. They lined up perfectly on the block with where I was getting oil leaks. I thought I had a persistent slow distributor o-ring leak, but now after cleaning up the transmission and replacing the head gasket its totally dry. You can also see where the oil was pooling on the topside of the front cover...when I said the top of the motor I meant, the top of the motor above the water and oil pumps.

When I bled the coolant system it was ever so slightly belching up air bubbles ringed with oil. So no, you do not have to have a noticeable drop in compression or be mixing tons of oil and coolant to have a head gasket leak.

Oh FYI...It is NOT necessary to remove the intake manifold from the head gasket. I fount it was a lot easier just to take the 2-3 bolts holding it to the bracket underneath and unhook everything.

 

Yeah, a compression test is useful when you know there are drivability issues. When oil is simply leaking a compression test won't always catch it, as you have found. This is very unusual but not impossible.

Just one thing, when you have a head gasket problem, it's best to check the block for warpage as well as for having the head actually heated in an oven and straightened out. Most people just have it resurfaced. While this can work, most times you need to have the head straightened back out and this is done while in an oven and machine shops can do this.

 

I would ideally! But I live in rural NE and have a very pregnant wife who didn't want to be giving me rides everywhere. Any machine shop is an hour plus away...they're just not around like they used to be unfortunately. Hell, half the cars on the road aren't worth rebuilding and cash for clunkers made sure there's no blocks to salvage. Try to find an old non-vortec Chevy 4.3 for under $500...I dare you!

I did get new head bolts however! I broke an SK extension and two SK sockets trying to get those things out...they were about 3x tighter than they should have been. Runs like a top now, just gotta find an idle air control valve that closes fully and reliably...only getting like 25mpg now and I suspect that's most of it.

 

I gotta be honest, at the very least you need to resurface the head or it probably wont last long. The actual head gasket leaks as a result of the head warping somewhere.

 

I gotta be honest, I've done head gaskets before without resurfacing and gone 100k and still going. You wanna let me borrow your car for a couple weeks while I do it that'd be great. I'm tired of trolls...there's a reason I turned my back on this forum. I have a life and a family, don't give a **** about H22 swaps or what anyone else thinks. I post on here to help people out if anyone has the same problems later. Most users can't provide anything useful, second guess everything and don't help troubleshoot. Car is running again and not leaking, that's all my wife and I wanted.

 

If this is rare as post above said, then I must be one of the lucky ones. Got a '99 Accord EX with 235k (F22A1 - if memory working) with the same oil leak after replacing the timing belt and camshaft and crank seals, valve cover gasket. When I did the seals and timing belt, I cleaned up engine to get all oil off. For a while all looked good and dry and then oil was seeping again into that well. For the life of me I could not find where the oil was coming from except it looked like oil was accumulating on the block just below the gasket but I thought it was seeping from the cam or something close by. I also have oil on the other end under the IAC valve. Months ago I changed all the seals, the distributor o-ring and that side was dry for a while. Now it looks like oil is coming from corner of cylinder 4 or somewhere near there. Your rare problem may be the answer to my great frustration with oil seepage. Over the weekend took off the top camshaft cover and could not see how oil could be seeping because it all looked dry - and I was convinced I screwed up the new cam seal months ago. So thanks for posting the pics and the info. I'm not clear on whether you found head gasket leaking above the transmission?

 

I'm sorry you think that creating a thread where you completely and totally bash Fel Pro for having made 3 completely and totally useless gaskets that managed to magically rip where nobody else in the history of mankind even made a thread here reporting 1 issue is ok.

I disagreed and you completely took it personally.

I didn't say you were the worst mechanic ever. I simply stated my opinion which is that it has has to be some sort of installation error.

If your car makes it fine, that's all good. I'm not rooting for it to fail, I simply gave my honest opinion which I do numerous times almost on a daily basis helping people out, where I get no compensation whatsoever for doing so.

If you get all butthurt when someone simply disagrees with you then it's best you don't post at an online messageboard.

 

I just did my head gasket in a rush this past summer, felpro set also. Leaks in the same exact spot, right behind waterpump. I did get new bolts but guessing the gasket was damaged by me or came that way. Can't be sure. Amazon getting a refund or replacement request right now ill tell u that lol