I am thinking of buying this 1994 Accord EX. Looked under the front end this weekend and took a bunch of photos and want to have an idea of what is going on before I bring it to a mechanic.

There is an oil leak from the Distributor but there is also oil on the Transmission and seeping out from other parts.

It was down 1 quart of oil when I took the photos and I had driven it for 15 minutes to warm it up. The owner says he does not know how often oil has to be added.

I also have a question about a drive belt pulley -- it is really rusted. How bad is that? Does that mean other parts around it would have to be replaced?

Back to the oil leaks -- there is more than one, right? Any idea where it is coming from or what the problem may be based on the photos?

 

Transmission.

 

Not sure.

 

Drive Belt Pulley.

 

Another not sure about.

 

When buying a car always assume the worst.

 

I wouldn't worry about the pulley, they are made from mild steel. The leak behind the pulley could either be a valve cover, or something behind the timing cover (crank, cam, balance shaft seal, oil pump seal) but it doesn't look that bad. Oil pan looks like its leaking a bit but again, not bad. You might have a stripped drain plug.

From the transmission its hard to tell, could be an axle shaft seal, distributor o-ring, or rear main.

Just from looking at the pictures I would assume the rear main seal is bad when pricing it out, but wouldn't worry about the other leaks.

 

like maso said and holmes said, assume the worst. Its not uncommon for these things to leak but It leads me to question whether or not the owner took care of the maintenance? Such as timing belt etc. And the fact that he pretends to not know about the major oil leaking...uh. If its the dist, then that is a very easy fix and very cheap, its a small o ring on the shaft. The rear main will take some time. Looks like the oil pan is leaking which isnt bad if you can lift the car a bit to do it.

 

I have a 1997 Accord wagon LX. Pretty much everything you listed in this post I had issues with. I have 262K miles without any maintenance history so I am replacing the whole longblock with an F23 VTEC.

Anyway, the oil on the transmission and oil leaking from the distributor are from the same cause....a worn distributor seal. VERY common issue.

The leaking around the oil pan just looks to be a bad oil pan gasket. I bet a simple replacement of the oil pan seal will fix that.

The worst seal that can be leaking is the rear main seal. That requires a lot of labor to replace. You have to take off the transmission.

Does the owner have proof when the water pump and timing belt were changed? If not, assume the haven't.

 

Thank you for the replies everyone. AndyD, that was the first thing I asked him, told him it is supposed to be done every 6 years or 90,000 miles on the 94 but he said he is the second owner and does not know if or when it was done. I am going to walk away from this one, in addition to the leaks it needs tie rods, upper ball joints and CV boots and would need the timing belt and water pump.

 

It also helps to know if he used synthetic oil. That stuff will seep threw alot in some hondas.

 

how so?

 

I know when I started using synthetic oil, over time it would leak right past my rear main seal. Changed it and continued using pure synthetic and while it slowed it down it still leaked. I then went with a synthetic blend and it stopped all together. While researching I found there were other people who ran into the same issue using synthetic oil. Im sure thats not the case with everyone though. Just my own experience.

 

just curious, I noticed this with my vehicles as well. Even new motors. So you went with a synthetic blend and it stopped?

 

Yea it was right after I replaced the rear main. It wouldnt hurt to try it. Clean up the oil leaks and do an oil change using the "synblend."

 

Well I used mobil 1 on an engine with a couple thousand miles, and then another engine that had never leaked before. Now both are leaking like hell. I thought I was crazy but apparently there is controversy on the topic

 

Yea thats what I was using also then I went to Castrol Synblend

 

Synthetic oil will make leaks more severe, but shouldn't cause new leaks. It just flows better than regular oil. Most "synthetic" oil is really just highly refined petroleum-based oil anyway - its not like its a totally different molecule.

 

No it "shouldn't" cause more leaks and Im not saying that it does. But from what I have experienced and seen, looks like that is what has happened to a lot of people. Not everyone.

 

From a quick google search it appears the molecule of the synthetic is smaller, which would possibly be the culprit for the leaking. Also the synthetic is never fully utilized unless under extreme conditions from what I see.

 

These cars are pretty old now so they require a lot of work. I enjoy them because, if you have the means and ability, if you pull out the engine and replace everything at once, these cars can last for a lot longer. 80's and 90's Hondas were built to last a long time. Cars nowadays aren't designed to be as trouble-free and low-cost-of-ownership as the older cars. It's so hard to work on the newer cars yourself now.

If I had the time, I would love to buy up older Hondas and replace the engines with newer ones and do all the major maintenance on them and sell them. It's unfortunate to see these cars meet their demise. My favorite Accords were '86-'97's.

 

My 95 wagon has oil leaks where everyone else mentioned. Previous owner had a gallon of 5w-30 full synthetic valvoline in the trunk so next oil change ill use Castrol synthetic blend, clean off all the oil and change distributor o rings and oil pan gasket and see if it continues leaking.

 

May as well do valve cover gasket and maybe even timing cover seals if you going that far

 

Yeah gonna do those too, might as well. Just trying to get more info on any gaskets that might be notorious for leaking to just swap them all out at once.

 

My 97 Accord leaked pretty much in a similar areas. I took up one fix at a time,
1. Distributor o-ring and shaft seal replaced
2. Seals replaced to as I saw oil in spark plug wells
3. Oil pressure switch replaced
4. Power steering O-rings replaced

Though oil leak reduced, my car still used to lose about 1qt every 1500 miles. As a final resort, I poured AT 205-Reseal during my last previous change. When I did another oil change recently, I also replaced PCV-value as it broke off while taking it out to clean. To my surprise, Oil leak now dropped to just one or two drops on the driveway. I suspect one of the bushings behind the timing belt cover may be one causing the minor leak, I don't want to mess with Timing belt, so not going to touch it.