rush2112

Sorry for the long post – want to answer as many questions up front.

Recently bought a 98 Civic DX hatch, auto, for $5000 - probably more than I should have. The car is very clean for 122K miles. There was a single oil drip under the oil pan, and the dealer’s mechanic assured me that it was probably left over from their oil change. I cleaned it up and had them change the timing belt, tensioner, water pump and seals. The mechanic later confessed that he saw “oil stains” in the area.

About a week later, the drip appeared at the bottom of the timing cover. Armed with the Factory Service Manual, torque wrench, and not wanting to sink any more money into the car than necessary, I changed the oil pan gasket. A week later, the same thing. After closer scrutiny, it looked like the source of the oil leak was coming from the top rt area of the oil pump.

Digging deeper, I replaced the oil pump O-ring, sprung for another crank seal, and applied a liberal amount of gasket sealer around the oil pump. It looks like the seal in the O-ring area was the culprit. (Three weeks and no leaks.)

My concern is when running the car after my back-yard- broke-chanics fix, there is a clacking noise upon acceleration coming from the suspect area. This seamed to happen initially, then went away. I thought that maybe the oil pump was not primed? The car has done it intermittently since, but only when cold. I again noticed it yesterday (cold engine). Possibly ok after the belts warm up?

I am assuming that the oil circulation is happy, else I would have had bigger problems by now?? I am pretty sure that the timing belt tensioner is set right, however, I couldn’t get the tourque wrench in there. Am pretty sure that the belt is on correctly, the engine runs like a champ.

Aloha for the help….

(I want the car semi-stock, so I installed Tokico Blues, new tires, alignment(s). The car has camber issues and will have to drop more dough for the kits. Did transmission flush, rad flush, ceramic pads. Feels like the car is worth $10K with all the parts and labor spent….)

Perfectionist

Are you sure you aren't just noticing the aluminum piston clatter these engines seem to make when they are cold?

rush2112

Didn’t notice the anomaly until after I cut into the oil pump. I usually let the engine warm up before taking off on down the road, and let it idle more than usual after filling w/ oil, monitoring for explosions or flying springs. Don’t know about the piston clatter, but it’s not ping.

rush2112

The two main items that I messed with are:
Timing Belt removal / tension adjustment
Oil pump removal.

While installing the oil pump, I needed to set the “inner rotor” so that the “key” would line up with the crank. Didn’t inspect, or have the foresight to check the mating. This took me a couple attempts to mount the pump to the block because of maneuvering and the blurbs on the tube warning of a 5 minute cure-time for the gasket sealer. Initially, the keys lined up, but after retries, I am not sure. I dread that the rotor may have gone on 180 out. Is this possible, and if so, is there a long-term o-*****? I assume that the oil pump is constantly flooded with oil. Could it be draining?

I did not disassemble the oil pump for inspection, but the inner rotor does spin freely.

Thanks for the input – my wife is becoming a civic-widow…

rush2112

Blown head gasket. Not very noticeable. Oil in head / rocker assembly and coolant looks fine. Number 1 cylinder misfire, bad plug several times. Eventually looses water.

Swapped with JDM D16A. No more sound….

Thanks