Camshaft seal direction question

[evol90accord]

This may sound stupid, but which way does the camshaft seal go in? It's the flat side out, like all the rest of the seals in the timing belt area, right?

I just replaced this last weekend when I was doing my timing belt and now its shredded. The metal binding part inside the seal tore out and I'm leaking oil all over my brand new t-belt. Nice huh?

Just thought I'd ask, maybe I accidentally stuck it in there backwards

[mrhonda]

yep, flat side goes out. You probably just rolled the lip when you drove it in. Just clean it all up really good, install a new seal, and take a look at it very closly, especially in inner lip to make sure you didn't pinch it.

[evol90accord]

i hope i didnt do that with the crankshaft seal or the balance shaft seal! I tried to look down through the top of the lower timing belt cover and the balance seal looks like its holding... the crankshaft i can barely see. No surprise considering its buried under 3 gears, 2 belts and a concave washer

Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to double check that when I replace it tomorrow.

Hey, on a different subject which seal do I need to replace to stop the distributor leaking? Which number from the illustration ?

Thanks!

Oh yeah, that price for the entire distributor can't possibly be right can it? That's more than the car is worth and the sum of all the individual pieces!!

[accord91lx]

lol $8k for a distributor hahahahhaha

[aero]

You most likely drove the seal in at a slight angle. I was scared of doing that when I installed my rear main on the h22 before dropping it in. I would use a piece of wood or something that will evenly distribute the force of pushing it in. Since at 8k rpms, just a tiny bit cocked, and that seal will shred, just as it did.

[mrhonda]

Hey, on a different subject which seal do I need to replace to stop the distributor leaking?

It depends where its leaking from. SOmetimes just the outer o-ring leaks and you just have to pull the dist. off to replace it, really cheap and it takes about 1 min to do it. However, at this age these cars usually leak from the dist. internal seal which unfortunately cannot be purchased seperately, you have to replace the entire sub-assembly. Just pull off the cap and see if there is oil inside the dist. I think a new OEM sub-assembly is about $300 give or take. Be careful tho, if its leaking really bad and oil drips onto the coolant bypass hose this will cause it to swell up and it will eventually pop and overheat the engine. So take a good look at that bypass hose for oil saturation, if its covered with oil replace it too.

[phatdoughnut]

Try distributor king, they own when it comes to distributors.. get them brand new for like around 175 with cap and rotors, ive bought 2 of them. And if you are a member of H-T you get a 10 percent discount.