My 88 civic wagon 4wd, leaks oil from the pan, alot of it, not from the drain bolt but from all around the pan.
I bought a felpro oil pan gasket, 15$.
My question is do i absolutely have to use honda bond?
I have this other thing called permatex gasket sealer, and i also have this black gasket maker stuff, can i use that instead?
Also, in this helms manual it says to just put in the 4 corners. True?
Ive heard to put it all around, my friend says dont put any at all, and just alot of conflicting info.

 

If permatex I'd recommend the grey since it's high temp and oil resistant, and that's what we use at work on all the gaskets. If you do use it, go all the way around, especially around the bolt holes (just not on the bolts) and you'll be okay just make sure you clean the pan well

 

once you have everything off, if the engine is still in the car, I would let it set overnight to make sure most of the oil drains out. Clean the surface off and wipe up inside to keep oil from dripping down. Put a LITTLE sealant on the 4 corners where the rear seal cap and oil pump mate to the block, place the gasket on and ONLY hand tighten all the bolts nuts to the pan. Starting at the middle, either front or back, and use a 3/8 ratchet and small extension, start to tighten the middle bolt only until u feel it have a slight resistance. than go is a circle around the pan and keep doing than until they all feel pretty tight. The gasket should NOT squeeze out between the block and pan. once they all feel rather snug, go around with maybe a 45* turn on each. Once it's done, it should not leak again.

 

Thx for the replies guys.
I havent removed everything, just the exhaust and 10 bolts, theres 2 left, but for the 4wd model, i have to remove the drive gear and some other thing.
I drained it like last week, but once i remove the pan i cant let it sit, because my car is parked in the street, and i dont want stuff flying in.

If after changing the gasket, it does leak, does that mean i need to re tighten bolts, or add a little more sealant?

 

it shouldn't leak if done properly, but after awhile of it getting hot, you could check the bolts and re-tighten if needed.

 

I use brake cleaner to get the surface of the block & oil pan super clean.
then i use very light coat of permex on both sides of the gasket.... (use razor blade edge to create thin coat.

install and tq to like 10lbs or so. let sealant cure then pour in oil.

but that's just me.

 

Ok. Ill try it right now, ill post back the results.

 

Ran into a problem. Helms manual says remove left side cover, shows 5 bolts, i cant remove the first one cuz its long and the oil pan blocks it, any suggestions?

 

Bump- need some help, cant figure out exactly how to remove certain parts without removing the whole tranny. Need advice on how to do it, from some serious og wagovan mechanics.

 

Is the cover blocking a bolt for the pan? If it's not, maybe remove pan bolts and move it out of the way enough so you can get the side cover off.

 

The oil pan blocks the bolt, its a long bolt. Im able to remove 10 oil pan bolts, but 2 are impossible to remove, i have to move other 4wd components around there. I have a haynes manual, doesnt specify exactly on how to remove things, or in what order.
Does say,however, i need a hoist... which makes me believe ihave to lower the tranny?

 

I was just looking at an exploded diagram of that portion of the transfer case. It looks like you don't remove those 5 bolts in that pic, rather you remove the entire thing that it bolts to.

EDIT-Maybe you have to remove all of them but you wiggle the two pieces out together.

 

So then i dont need to drop the tranny, but i need to remove the transfer case?
24- do you have like a step by step diagram? Im having trouble finding some good how-to's on this specific model.

 

Not a step by step, I was looking at this site (comes in handy a lot for a variety of reasons outside of just ordering replacement parts):

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...NSFER+CASE+4WD

You should be able to figure it out from that picture.

 

That pic helps alot. I read somewhere that i have to remove the propeller shaft or something like that before i start removing things, but i have no clue what that is or where its at.

Its not the cv axles?

 

I dont know if you have changed the gasket yet or not but read the front of the Felpro box. It was probably say install gasket dry, do not use any liquid sealant. I made this mistake once with a Felpro oil pan gasket and ended up dropping the pan again bc it leaked even worse. The Felpro gasket with no sealant on it works great. No leaks for 30,000 miles so far

 

How did you keep the gasket from moving out of place?? Im struggling on mine. Will just a small amount of permatex work just to hold it in place?

 

Hold it with your fingers at the round center sections while you put the pan up. Lay the gasket out flat on the pan and the round nubs that stick up slightly off the flange will hold it in place. I've done 3 now with this technique on my civic, Crx and crv successfully after my initial screw up using Rtv on it

 

Yours was the blue felpro gasket? mine sucked. It would not hold in place at all, i used a tiny bit of permatex to hold it down... it was the only way i could keep the gasket from falling.

 

Yep, mine was the blue ones. When I did it and followed the Honda instructions i put permatex as described by the service manual. It leaked everywhere. I never used just a dab to keep it in place so you should be ok. Mine leaked right away when I did it the first time

 

the correct torque i believe is 108 in/lbs

 

Should i tighten all the bolts, then add a quart of oil( before putting the transfer case and stuff back) to see if it leaks around the bolts?
My gasket kept falling at the edges where the crank pulley is located and where the tranny is.