Guys I need your experienced opinions please.

This is a friend's car. It has been leaking oil for years. She was dealing with it by adding oil regularly.

Then one day she got out and noticed a large puddle under the car. She drove it straight home (about a half mile) - leaving a trail of oil all the way. From that trail I can tell that it was running onto the ground from the driver's side (front of the engine).

I am no stranger to working on cars, but I do not know what I am dealing with here. Everything underneath is drenched. I guess my first question would be - what comes to mind based on the location of where the leak seemed to be coming from?

I took some photos and a short video, which I will try and post here also. Thank you - if anyone can help get me pointed in the right direction here.

 

Here is a short video clip. Everything is wet it seems - from the oil filter to the inside of the the timing belt cover.

My temptation is to fill the engine with oil - add dye - and then start it - to try and pinpoint things that way.

 

take it to car wash and clean up as much as possible. put it on car ramps, start it up and craw under to see whats dripping. it looks like maybe the front seal or oil pan. It could also be the camshaft seal or a balancer shaft seal. The cam cover gasket can also dump a lot of oil. Does the oil run out with the engine off? if so maybe a hole in the oil pan.

 

Thanks schreps.

I've done some reading and the balancer shaft seal has got my attention. IIRC the timing belt was wet. Next time I have access to the car I'm going to look to see if there is a seal retainer installed. If not, I will probably remove the timing cover to have a look-see.

I also had the same thought as you - put oil in the engine to see if it runs out.

 

to get the lower cover off you need to remove the lower pulley (harmonic balancer) which requires removing the crank bolt. that bolt can be a bitch, best removed with a good air impact wrench.

 

Thanks yes I am aware of that. I doubt that my impact is up to the task, but I have a chain-vicegrip, a 1/2" breaker bar and a pipe. Of course I have no idea if the last guy used loctite on it or not.

 

 

no.no.no..on the chain vice grip..your going to ruin the pulley..i dont know why people have trouble with this..i pop them off easily with vacuum tube shoved into the cylinder..take any plug out and turn the engine ccw until its on the piston is all the way on the bottom of the cylinder...shove as much of the vacuum tubing you can into the cylinder..now turn the crank ccw until the piston jams the tubing and locks engine..done..now place a jackstand the same level as crank bolt and you a breaker bar and a big long pipe for leverage and bust it loose..now turn engine slightly clockwise and remove tube...done

 

It is an Accord LX.

 

I was going to wrap a rag around the pulley to protect it. But your idea of the vacuum tubing sounds very good. I may do it this way. I like it. Thank you.

 

I have a 91 Accord LX and 2 years ago when I changed the timing and balancer belt I had to loosen that crank pulley and what I did was wrap some bicycle tubing around the serpentine grooves of the crank pulley (with duct tape to hold it in place) to protect the grooves and then I griped the whole thing with a special tool. This tool was a looking chain clamp which I then wedged against the ground with a pipe coming out of it so that the pulley could not turn CCW in order to be able to loosen that bolt with the use of a breaker bar with a very long pipe added to it (I used a 5 foot extension!) because it may need as much as 200 ft lbs + to de-torque that bolt! It did end up burring the serpentine groves but I just deburred it with a cheap Dremel and some sand paper. The crank pulley should turn CCW looking at it from the driver's side when the engine is running. I think that if you let the crank pulley as seen from the driver's side turn clockwise too much it may loosen the tension on the timing belt, so be careful! You gotta realize that the crankshaft always and only turns CCW viewing from the drivers side so turning that engine opposite that is not what it was designed to do.

Perhaps, all you gotta do to find the leak is clean everything up and then drive a short trip. Go look above/underneath and follow the oil trail back to the source. Don't drive too long or everything may get oiled up again and then there's no telling where the oil is coming from which is the problem you have now.

Good luck and Godspeed!

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. Good stuff - all of it.

I'm kinda thinking at this point of running the engine with dye in the oil to help pinpoint the source of the leak.

 

I use one of these ($15) plus the air impact. the time it takes to deal with putting stuff in and out of the cylinder and making sure the cylinder is on the compression stroke isn't worth it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-Acura...frcectupt=true

 

Thank you. I did not know this tool existed.

I may get one.

 

I'm trying to pin point this oil leak on the f22a6 on a 92 accord. it is above the water pump, near the cam shaft gear, where the head and block meet. I also replaced valve cover gasket and double checked that there's no leak there. Not to sure if the head gasket leaks oil if they go bad or what. Recently replaced cam shaft gear seal just because i had the seal, no leaks before replacement or after, and the front balancer seal because it was actually dripping oil from time to time. Here's a pic to get a better understanding for what i mean. Ty

F22a6 oil leak, driver side

 

Guys I thought I would post an update. I was never given the opportunity to work on this repair, and the car has since gone on to Honda Heaven.

I'm just posting so as to tie up the loose end.