So my car (1990 Accord EX Sedan, 158k) has been smelling of burning oil for god knows how long now... So i inspect it, and i find out that there was oil leaking from the head gasket because i saw some oil where the head meets the block. So i get that seal fixed and all is well, and i think well now the smell will go away..... EERRRRR Wrong!
Yesterday my friend and i are going on a joy ride, and we smell the scent of burning oil once again and its real bad... so we pull over, pop the hood and take a look, and this is what we find!

The oil that you see here is brand new and i have never noticed it there before. But can you narrow it down to the origin of its location???

Yes i know my engine is dirty as Shizat! We bought the car at 90k. Ran like a dream!!! The oil you see on the valve cover is not a leak, its just not going away from when i spilled a little on it. That was a month ago, and i thoroughly cleaned it off right after i spilled it.

Can anyone please tell me where the oil is leaking from. Why could this have happened? The leak is right next to the 4th runner of the intake manifold. I think right by where it bolts to the block? Is that right? My guess is that its a bad oil line(i hope). I am no mechanic. So i turn to you!!!
PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks alot guys!


[Modified by MJ23FE, 7:57 PM 11/21/2002]


[Modified by MJ23FE, 8:09 PM 11/21/2002]


[Modified by MJ23FE, 8:15 PM 11/21/2002]


[Modified by MJ23FE, 8:15 PM 11/21/2002]

 

check the rubber seal under the valve cover bolt by your oil cap. if that seal is bad then a lot of oil could potentially come out of it. also check your valve cover gasket, if thats bad that could also be a major player in your problem.

a bad head gasket is most likely not your problem because you would be over heating and would have terrible compression as well as you would be burning coolant like a biatch.


[Modified by Foomanshu, 12:05 AM 11/22/2002]

 

Bad HeadGasket..... is Bad news for the Pocket

Time to bust open the piggy back......
But just to make sure I suggest to do a compression check to be on the safe side

 

Damn... you really think its the Head Gasket. Well i will get a compression test done and see how it turns out. How much does a head gasket for this car go for? How much would labor go for as well??? Thanks for the help.
Does anyone else think that this could be from somewhere other than the head gasket???

 

An easy way (but not always accurate) to check if it's the head gasket is to simply check the oil and antifreeze. If either look like chocolate milk...well...yea. But a compression test and/or leakdown test will would tell all.

I can't see the pics, but are you sure it's not just leaking from the valve cover gasket? That's not unusual at all...they dry and crack and oil seeps out, often onto the hot exhaust manifold.

Headgaskets aren't cheap if you have somebody else do it. I was quoted about $1200 from a shop for mine, but I didn't have that kinda dough laying around so I just did it myself (my first time!). Although not easy, I just followed the instructions in the manual and it wasn't nearly as hard as I had imagined. Got the head resurfaced, valve job done, replaced 1 valve guide, pressure test, and magnaflux or whatever the hell they call it, and an entire head gasket set. Total came to $342 ($120 of which was that gasket set). Got everything back together and she's ran like a champ ever since, and I learned alot too!

I still say check the smaller stuff first though. Unless it's overheated pretty bad, that seems awfully early (mileage wise) for a head gasket to be going out

 

Well, i plan on having a compression test and a leakdown test done fairly soon.
I do not think its the valve cover gasket because if my dad speaks the truth (if he knows what the hell he is talking about, damn immigrant, LoL) than he supposedly had the valvecover gasket changed in the past 2 weeks. I dont know because i did not go with him to fix it. I really wish i could work on this car, but i cannot because it is my daily commuter and my family's daily commuter. It is not my car, it is my dad's car but i use it whenever the hell i need to.
I wish i had my own car... and a beater on the side... that way i could work on it and i would learn, and life would be so much nicer!

I just wish i had like $4k to do a complete engine rebuild with with the basic bolt ons and p&p. I would also add a turbo. That would be dreamy. Unfortunately, my luck sucks, and i would never spend that kind of money on my car because i have higher aspirations.

 

That's what im thinking it is. when a head gasket goes you dont leak oil around the valve cover...i'm not sure oil would leak at all come to think of it. It would most likely be the brown milky coolant-oil mix you talked about. Isnt that what the head gasket does anyway; keeps oil and collant separate?

before you get too worried on whether or not it's the valve gasket check all the valve cover seals first, all that stuff's cheapper anyway