JDMjdawg

So I noticed my gf's 03' Civic LX was leaking some oil the other day, checked it out and noticed leakage around the lower timing cover and oil pan. The car has about 140K on it and the timing belt service was done around 95K. I'm guessing it's a bad crank or cam seal but now I'm thinking maybe it's just the oil pan gasket, doubt it though. It's now leaking quite a bit of oil to the point where it leaves a trail behind it. I've since parked it for good until I can figure fix the problem.
Any thoughts? I appreciate any help or ideas.

jdmh22eg2

i would lean towards oil pump/crank seal

holmesnmanny

It actually looks like even the oil pan drain plug is leaking. I would pick up a new crush washer, pick up a new oil pan drain plug and when installing it add some rtv to the threads just to completely seal it up.

This is in addition to just flat out replacing all seals. rockauto has oil pump gasket sets and since you will be replacing the oil pan gasket you can just completely pull the front case that holds the crank seal even more easier as there are two studs that go through the front case that also require the oil pan to be removed. This makes it easier and less likely to damage the crank. It's safe to assume that the rear main seal is also bad so pulling the tranny would also be great if you wanted to completely seal up your engine. Be sure to add grease to the inner lip of all the seals to be sure that they break in properly and don't tear and leak after all your hard work.

jdmh22eg2

^ plz tell me how a drain plug will leak UP???? there is a CLEAR drip from the oil pump section of the oil pan. yes plug is leaking but pump puts a GOOD bit more oil out than that plug. also DO NOT put RTV on your oil plug bolt OP

holmesnmanny

This means in addition to the oil leak coming from elsewhere.

It should have been clear from the rest of the post where I talk about doing all other seals but I guess some have eyes but can not see.

And nothing wrong with putting rtv on threads of sealing bolts. The Helms talks about doing it to block sealing bolts as well. Standard practice and assuming the drain plug is leaking there's a good chance that the threads on the oil pan where it seals is going stripped as well. I'd rather be completely sure that doesn't leak rather than to have my oil leak out in some sort of catastropic leak that people talking about occurring here, every now and then.

Pretty common sense.

grjr

it is far more common that the oil pan gasket is leaking than the front main seal. Camshaft seals also leak more often than the front seal but dont tend to leak a lot of oil compared to the oil pan gasket. I'd replace the pan gasket first. Use brake cleaner to get all surfaces cleaned of oil before putting the new gasket in.