oil leak questions.

[smellmyfinger]

Just bought this 91 dx 5 speed 125000miles the other day. Test drove it about 5 miles, took it up to 65 mph and the car did well besides some electrical problems.
Paid 1500. On my way home the oil light starts flashing so i pull over check it out and oil level seems fine. Seen some oil on the timing belt cover . I noticed a drip from driver side of engine and passnger side. It drips a lot more on the drivers side. Previous owner said he did an oil change himself and he also said he was no mechanic. Maybe he put too much oil and blew seals?

Oil light will come and go but is on about 75% of the time. flashes at a steady rate of about 1 sec.

Would really like to know where you guys think this oil leak is coming from.
Could the oil leak eat up my timing belt.
What would it take to replace cam seals ( time, cost, labor involved)

[smellmyfinger]

any info would be apreciated

[JesterMasque]

I've replaced seals on a few CB7/9's over the past couple months. Most of the time it has been the balance shaft cover gasket and/or the crankshaft seal. I still have yet to see a cam seal that is actually leaking. And the timing belt rot is not something you have to worry about that much, at least not as much as your oil pressure dropping. I believe the oil light kicks on when the pressure drops below 8psi, or 10psi, I can't remember. The leak on the passenger side is either from the distributor (you can see if the whole top of the trans/side of the motor is oil soaked), the oil pan, or the rear main seal. From the mileage, I would definitely guess the oil pan.

To change out the seals, you may as well just do an entire timing belt service. Seals and gaskets all together cost me a little more than $200, but I used all Honda parts except the belts themselves (Gates, from Napa) and the water pump (Napa Premium). But I also got wholesale discounts on everything as well.

The labor all depends on your availability of tools. There are a couple tight places getting all of those bolts out of the side of the motor. Also, the Haynes manual will be your Messiah if you haven't done this several times before.

Look at it this way: you are at 125k. Unless the person you bought it from produced paperwork that the job was already done, it's pretty imperative that you get it done soon.

I think I about covered everything. Any other questions, just ask! Also, welcome to the forums! In the future, there is a very helpful search tool at the top of every forum. About 90% of questions can be generally answered by searching.

[vietkid_2006]

If it's by the passenger and driver side it probably is a valve cover gasket, but you won't know for sure until you clean your engine with degreaser and have everything clean, then run the engine to find the leak.

[thepowderblue]

I have had a bad dizzy o ring cause a leak on the passenger side.
I wonder why the oil light is coming on. Try replacing your oil pressure sensor and change your oil with a new filter and let me know what that does for the light.

[toycar]

oil light has nothing to do with oil leaking and everything to do with oil pressure.


I, personally, would go out to the shop and snag an oil pressure gauge off the shelf and hook it up.


If you have bad pressure, the pump may be faulty. I doubt your leaking enough oil to effect pressure, and be full at the same time.


Its probably related to your oil pressure, or the oil pressure sensor.


Personally, I wouldnt fuck around with it. Get it figured out before you drive it too much. No oil pressure = waste of $1500 if you dont catch it soon enough.

[deevergote]

any info would be apreciated

When you're posting a thread in what is the middle of the night for 90% of this site's population, you don't need to post again after 4 minutes... nobody is there to read it. Doing so will only result in your thread getting deleted, and eventually lead to you getting banned.

[batever]

Get a new oil pressure sending unit and while you are at it do an oil pressure check at the same port. If the oil pressure is good, put a new oil pressure sending unit in the port, as they are known to fail over time and give false low oil pressure readings.

if the oil pressure light goes on steady, it means less than 2.5 psi of pressure. If it blinks, it means intermittent drops to less than 2.5 psi. NOT 8 or 10 psi. (however, this is from memory for me, too).

you should have 10 psi at idle and 50 psi at 3,000 rpms when the engine is warmed up.

your leak, based both on your description of where the leak is manifesting and the oil pressure light coming on, could be a failed seal at the oil pump, thus affecting the oil pressure and making it imperative that you check the pressure IMMEDIATELY. Leaking rear main seal is a possibility too.

Mileage of 125 K is not the prime issue here, the fact is that all these seals are nearly 20 years old, regardless of their mileage, unless they have been changed in the past.

Easy though time consuming fix if you catch it, but wrecked engine if you don't.

good luck.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

oil light has nothing to do with oil leaking and everything to do with oil pressure.

x2

[smellmyfinger]

sorry its been so long since i posted. personal shit.
but anyway since the last post i been depressed and havent taken care of my car or looked at anything you guys have mentioned.
about 2 saturdays ago my car brokedown, started making funny noises and it would almost shutdown. it started leaking this dirty brown oil shit and coolant.
i had the car towed to a nearby shop. they said the water pump busted and my timing belt almost broke. had them to change seals and water pump and timing belt. they did all that plus the balance shaft and tensioner. drove it home and the oil leak was still just as bad if not worse.
the oil light didnt come on as often as it used to, just 3 or 4 times in the past 10 days.
as i was driving around today my clutch didnt return, had to pull it back up wit my foot. scared the shit out of me so i pulled over to look under the hood. and i see oil shooting up from the corner of my valve cover near the timing belt cover. this is completely unrelated to the clutch. i could see the gasket sticking out. i drive home, clutch is fine, install the gasket about 2 hours ago. so far oil light hasnt come on. havent got to really check under car for oil leak because its dark and i already took a shower.

update tommorow night

[thepowderblue]

post a pic of this gasket. and be more descriptive on This phantom gasket

[smellmyfinger]

it was just the rubber valve cover gasket. it was sticking out at the corner allowing a crazy amount of oil out.

drove home in traffic today, no oil light. put a piece of cardboard on floor under engine to catch oil for about 45 min. and just got a few drips big improvement. hoping those few drips were just oil leftover on the block.

[smellmyfinger]

oil light started flashing again on my way home from work.
guess i got to get in there and do some real work. starting this weekend

[batever]

oil light started flashing again on my way home from work.
guess i got to get in there and do some real work. starting this weekend

Get a new oil pressure switch and, ideally, an oil pressure gauge. once you have the old oil pressure switch out throw the oil pressure gauge in there and make some observations. If things seem kosher, just put a new switch in and you should be good to go.

You could just put the switch in without testing the pressure, and see if that stops the oil light, but you would miss any fluctuations in oil pressure that the gauge would show but which don't put the oil pressure below 2 or 3 psi (which is where a functioning oil pressure switch trigggers). And you wouldn't get readings for the actual oil pressure, which would be important to know.

good luck.