Hey guys I have a 1996 Civic with the stock D16y7 and noticed there is tons of oil/grime all over the subframe and underneath the airbox. Checked my dipstick and was very low on oil, but was a tad overdue on my oil change. Not sure if it could be busted axle seals, and the low oil was a coincidence or not. Hope you guys can help as this is my daily driver. Here are some photos, I can clarify location of photos of needed. Thank you.

 

Anyone have any input? I replaced all of the main gaskets last summer, including the valve cover, rear main seal, distributor, and a few others. This is my daily driver and drive quite a bit for work, so any help is greatly appreciated!

 

I'm not seeing any oil there, just the usual grime buildup from driving a car for nearly 20 years...

If you really want to know where the oil is coming from, clean it. Clean the **** out of it. Make that **** shine. Then take it for a quick spin around town, and see where the oil came from.

 

Hey, thanks for the comment. I'd agree with you, however there are a few reasons that lead me to believe there could be another issue.

Last summer, I completly took the engine and transmission out to replace all of the seals and perform other maintenance. While everything was out, I completly cleaned the entire engine bay, including the subframe. That was just a year or so ago, I would not expect that much build up.. But you never know.

Also, I am seeing a similar type sludge/oil on a few plugs located underneath the airbox. This is in my 3rd picture. Hard to get a good picture of that.

I was also almost empty when I checked my dipstick. I was a little past due on my oil change, but nothing that severe. Just a few thoughts.

 

pull your distributor cap and check for oil inside the dist...shine a light down into it and look for wet...i would have also said to take a look at the bottom of the vtec spool valve, but Y7, so....yeah. rear of valve cover perhaps?

EDIT: maybe an eroded seal at the breather box.

 

Clean it again and watch the oil pan gasket, rear main seal and for total oil loss I guess the drain plug gasket.

 

I plan on cleaning everything today. I'll keep this thread updated for those interested. Thank you guys for the comments!

 

Check your engine oil levels regularly.

On level ground, remove transmission fill bolt, and stick your finger in the hole. Does MTF drizzle out when bolt is removed? Is the MTF level with the bottom of the fill hole?

 

Thanks for the advice, I will try your suggestions today.

Also, I had the car up on 4 jack stands so I could see everything underneath the engine, and I found quite a of oil. The front portion of the shift linkage, transmission and oil pan all have oil caked up on them. I plan on cleaning everything up this weekend and seeing what I can find. Any ideas on my new findings?

 

The only conclusion you can make is that there's some type of oil leak. Is it engine oil or transmission fluid? Where is the source of the leak? Try answering these questions.

 

Ok here's an update. I took my car to the Honda dealer and had about 5 guys come and look at my car. After about an hour of us looking through everything, they came to a mutual conclusion that they think the leak is coming from either the breather chamber, breather chamber O ring, PCV valve, or a combination of them all. My main question is, are these breather chambers known to crack or malfunction in any way? One guy said they could, while the other said it never would break; just the O ring.

The engine is now spotless, and I will check for any signs of leakages after I drive to work tomorrow.

 

Well after researching last night, it seems like some people have had issues with the breather box cracking. I'm just going to replace everything since I'll be under the car replacing the PCV.

 

So instead of cleaning it up and looking for the oil leak, you went to honda and they just gave you an answer of replacing components, than you searched online and came to your own conclusion of replacing the black box.


Why not clean up the oil from your engine bay, top off the oil if its low, and start looking for the leak?

 

That's not completely correct. I have a friend that works at the local Honda dealership and he gave me access to a lift. I recently moved to a new town and don't have my jack stands any many other tools with me at the moment. Having the car on the lift allowed me to clean the oil better than I could have at my house. I wanted to make sure I was able to get as much oil cleaned from underneath so I could make the best decision. Sorry for the confusion about that.

 

Plus, if I have access to a lift as well as friends willing to help, I don't see the problem with using that resource. Hope that clears thing up a bit.