Hi guys, I have a 95 Accord 2.2L SOHC that my father's friend who was mechanic & was rebuilding my cars engine for the former owner, an elderly lady. She passed away & unfortunately my dad's friend followed shortly after, his son is who put my car back together & sold it to me cheap. I am by no means a mechanic but I estimate he had replaced or upgraded about 50% of the engine & what he intended to repair or replace. He was replacing it for the woman so she wouldn't have any more problems whatsoever after he was done. I've had it about 14 months now & it's been great car. First year it was perfect, no problems at all, changed the oil regularly like I was advised by oil place. I live in Palm Desert, California where our summers are brutal. I'm talking 120+ with up to 30-50% humidity that can be harsh on a vehicle. Few things that I've replaced in last 6 months or so are, new radiator, new key ignition assembly, swapped all interior lights for LED's, replaced instrument cluster, replaced factory headlight assembly with xenon bulbs, new brake lines & finally I replaced the vehicles speed sensor that had been going in & out for few months causing transmission slippage. I did this all by myself with YouTube's help & everything was pretty much easy to do except instrument cluster & speed sensor both became bane of my existence the days I replaced them. Now that I've given you my vehicles history & repairs I've done, my question has to do with me accidentally "Space Docking" my car while parking about a month ago & I think that why it leaks a little amount of oil now because it never had before. My question is this, with around 190k miles & all the work I've done, what oil brand & viscosity should I use next week when I get oil change? I think it's been 5W30 but now should it be a thicker oil or synthetic? Would appreciate any opinions you guys have on exactly what brand & number oil I should use when I change oil in week. Thanks guys.

 

Do not change the oil from normal (5w30), that won't help.

Just get under it and look to see where the leak is coming from? Is it the oil pan? that would be the first thing I would think when "space docking"

You always want to look anyway, since hoses and other things could be damaged as well.

Brand is up to you, I run mobil1 or Valvoline synthetic myself, but oil can be a religious war with people, so use what you like.

 

But a synthetic one 5W30 tho? To be honest I think it may be power steering fluid. Isn't that a lighter color than oil? It's very small amount and never leaked before & I've taken care of my car like I should so the little leak surprises me. You are correct about the oil though, I have seen dudes going at it in some of these forums about what's best & some guys swear by mobile1 & others pennzoil or honda brand itself. But I'm ok to change oil next week to say "mobile1 5w30 synthetic"?

 

My bad, it's oil.

 

I will correct myself, use what you prefer. Does it have to be synthetic? No. I just happen to use that. If you like standard oil, that's fine, as long as it's changed regularly.

With the picture abovem, that is a lot of oil leaks, I don't think that is just one. You have oil coming from several locations. I would check oil pan, axles, filter, etc. I suspect that your space dock was not the cause of all the leaks,

 

Thank you for your help. Would seal replacement be ab issue? It's weird because oil is always where it should be.

 

Have you gotten underneath and looked yet? Take pictures so we can help identify the leak locations.

At this age car, common seal replacement locations are axles, oil pan, vale covers, inside the distributor, but you could also have power steering hoses, steering rack leaks, erservoir leaks, cv joints leaks, etc. No use guessing, just get under there and look.

 

No I haven't gotten underneath yet. I will tomorrow morning though, Monday February 8th. I live in Palm Desert, California so I'll post them around 2pm my time. I also just bought a 2005 civic & have been busy with that. From what I can tell the only thing that's wrong is the radiator needs to be replaced & I've done that before so it shouldn't be too hard. My neighbor is a rescue pilot who works up the palm springs tramway & basically gave me car when he moved out today & didn't have room & also didn't need it. I got lucky but I'll need help with that too lol.

 

So it's not the oil pan or gasket. It was the break fluid leaking from right breakline. I replaced right side brake line about 4 months ago & it was the same thing then that's happening now. It's leaking from left side of car now & the brake fluid was low as well. So, my friend ordered the brake line & gotta replace it this weekend. I also bought my neighbors 2005 civic that only needs radiator & fan.

Can't beat $650 and all it only radiator & fan. Extremely well kept both appearance & maintenance wise. I lucked out.

 

I'm glad that's all it was. Thanks for updating.