rear main seal leaking on my civic?

[91accord4door]

alright guys i got a leaking problem and i dont have a camera to get pics.....anyway i noticed this leak yesterday. i have a 93 civic ex coupe and its an auto....i have been planning a 5 speed swap but that may have to come quicker than expected becuase of this. i looked at the front of my engine and were the tranny meets the block theres oil right were they meet.....so i jacked it up and took a look and the front of the oil pans soaekd in oil and the oil continues to seap from around the entire tranny/motor connection....im thinking maybe rear main seal? and i know i can do that when i do the 5 speed swap. but i know it sucks i dont have pics but maybe someone could help. this just started leaking becuase it wasnt doing this a month ago when i changed my oil a month ago the engine and tranny were completely dry.thanks guys. any other suggestions would help.

[mrhonda]

Yeah sounds like the rear main. I wouldn't worry too much about it, its really not gonna hurt anything. Just replace the seal when you do your trans and you'll be fine.

[91accord4door]

Yeah sounds like the rear main. I wouldn't worry too much about it, its really not gonna hurt anything. Just replace the seal when you do your trans and you'll be fine.

man mrhonda you always come through even if its 3am....lol. yea im gonna bring it to my mechanic tommorrow so he can see what it is my cars a bitch to work under becuase its so low so he can put it on the lift and tell me for sure.....the leaks not bad enough yet to cause a serious "drip" its just seaping around were the tranny meets the block but its starts at the back right under the dist./ and work around to the front. theres no leak on the top and the dist is not whats leaking. mrhond when i remove the tranny do i have to drop the oil pan to take that seal out? i have had my tranny off before and theres some 10mm's that hold that rear main in. but i have heard u do have to take the pan off and i have also heard u dont.

[avendi]

Just incase, check your valve cover gasket... thing...
I had an oil leak for a while that showed similarities toward a rear main seal leak, but thankfully my mechanic friend found out the real cause.
(NOTE: The leak started when my family was taking care of my car while I was gone. They took it in to pepboys. Fuckers didn't put the gasket on right.)

[91accord4door]

i just reaplced v gasket thats not it i had my mechanic check it out today and he does not think its the rear main seal...he put it on the lift and spray all the underside of the motor/tranny with cleaner to remove the oil it was everywere....it look like its coming from around the timing cover area ande dripping down.....kind of like a came seal......but i recently stripped a v cover stud and tapped the hold so i could reuse the stud....it doesnt seem to be visible leaks from above but it may be leaking around the timing cover area....im gonna remove the valve cover again this weekend and replace the gasket and check everything i can. this thing hasnt dripped a drop up until a couple days ago so somthing isnt right.

[avendi]

i just reaplced v gasket thats not it i had my mechanic check it out today and he does not think its the rear main seal...he put it on the lift and spray all the underside of the motor/tranny with cleaner to remove the oil it was everywere....it look like its coming from around the timing cover area ande dripping down.....kind of like a came seal......but i recently stripped a v cover stud and tapped the hold so i could reuse the stud....it doesnt seem to be visible leaks from above but it may be leaking around the timing cover area....im gonna remove the valve cover again this weekend and replace the gasket and check everything i can. this thing hasnt dripped a drop up until a couple days ago so somthing isnt right.

I'd have to agree, something definately doesn't sound right. Hope it isn't getting oil on your timing belt at all.

[mrhonda]

Sooo...which side is it determined to be on, I'm kinda confused, t-belt side or trans side? It could be the cam seal, crank seal, valve cover gasket, distributor, oil pan gasket, or rear main, thats really about it. Civics don't seem to leak oil nearly as bad as the F22/H22 does. Regaurdless, whereever you determine the leak to be coming from, I would still replace the rear main when you do the trans. Because if it isn't leaking now, it will be soon so you might as well while you're in there. Oh, and no you do not have to remove the oil pan to do it. Juist pull off the flexplate/flywheel, pop the old seal out and drive the new one in.

[91accord4door]

Sooo...which side is it determined to be on, I'm kinda confused, t-belt side or trans side? It could be the cam seal, crank seal, valve cover gasket, distributor, oil pan gasket, or rear main, thats really about it. Civics don't seem to leak oil nearly as bad as the F22/H22 does. Regaurdless, whereever you determine the leak to be coming from, I would still replace the rear main when you do the trans. Because if it isn't leaking now, it will be soon so you might as well while you're in there. Oh, and no you do not have to remove the oil pan to do it. Juist pull off the flexplate/flywheel, pop the old seal out and drive the new one in.

yea i plan on replaing the rear main with the swap....my local honda mechanic spooted the leak coming from the timing cover wich would mean cam seal....but its not that i know its not its leaking to bad...its dripped down all over the tranny oil pan etc, and it just would blow a cam seal in a mtter of 2 days....i stripped a stud on my v cover gasket awhile back and tapped the holw and replaced the v cover and gasket and theres no visible leaks but i have a feeling that the v cover gasket isnt sealing properly on the timing cover side......and mrhonda your very right he told me that civics arent known to need cam seals like the accords and he said its unlikely its the rear main becuase its starting around the firewall side of the timing cover.......i gotta rip that v cover off this weekend and replace the gasket agaqin.....this time im buying some honda-bond. but mrhonda you are a smart dude.ill keep you updated.

[Dirty Harry]

I highly recommend that you remove the seal retainer to replace the rear main seal. This way, you can use a feeler gauge to measure how far into the retainer the seal is. If I'm not mistaken, the new seal needs to be driven in within 1/64th of an inch of where the old seal was. This is so that the lip in the middle of it can fit into the groove on the end of the crank properly.

[91accord4door]

I highly recommend that you remove the seal retainer to replace the rear main seal. This way, you can use a feeler gauge to measure how far into the retainer the seal is. If I'm not mistaken, the new seal needs to be driven in within 1/64th of an inch of where the old seal was. This is so that the lip in the middle of it can fit into the groove on the end of the crank properly.

hhhmmm never heard that before......ill take that into consideration.......mrhonda what do u have to say about this? im not doubting doctorcipher i just want to see what a certified honda tech has to say .but the rear main is fine right now ill do that during the 5 speed swap right now im worried about the leak.

[mrhonda]

I can't say I've ever heard of that either. Just pull the old seal out, and drive the new one in...done. 91Accord4door, sounds like you're mechanic knows what he is talking about cause he's right. I've seen Civics go years and years and put on hundreds and hundreds of thousands miles on before they ever develop any oil leaks. They aren't like these damn 4cyl Accord motors with their oil-hemorrhaging cam seals.

[91accord4door]

I can't say I've ever heard of that either. Just pull the old seal out, and drive the new one in...done. 91Accord4door, sounds like you're mechanic knows what he is talking about cause he's right. I've seen Civics go years and years and put on hundreds and hundreds of thousands miles on before they ever develop any oil leaks. They aren't like these damn 4cyl Accord motors with their oil-hemorrhaging cam seals.

same words came out of his mouth he told me about this old lady with a 92 civic lx.....it has 256k miles on it and he does her routine tune ups and he said he hasnt touched a seal on that motor except the came seal but he said it wasnt leaking and that he only did that when he did her timing belt "package".....he says these things dont leak. and they dont hjave balance shaft belts (wich i already knew).......i have a hunch that i fucked up the v cover gasket somehow but theres no visible leaks above the cover i think its dripping down the timing cover side but i will have to pull the v cover to find out. wich ill do this weekend. yea my f22 have every damn leak possible from every seal and i know the came seal was commong on the f22 wich isnt common the the 5thgen civics. thanks god. hopefully its something i did but i replaced the v cover gasket weeks ago and this leak just started......while i just happen to notice it anyway it may have been leaking for awhile......the oils fully so its not that bad its not bad enough to not go into vtec.....if im not mistakin if the oils to low vtec wont engage and vtec feels fine still. like i said ill update this when i find something out becuase im curious. i wish i never stripped the threads that the v cover studs go into

[mrhonda]

i wish i never stripped the threads that the v cover studs go into

hehehe...don't feel bad dude, we've all done that before.

[91accord4door]

hehehe...don't feel bad dude, we've all done that before.

no there not like the f22's the f22's have castle nuts were as the civics got actual studs that go through the v cover and thread into the head and the *** threads in the head are aluminum.......fucking ***. i re'threaded the head but not good enough i guess.....and its not like i can just stick any stud in that v cover hole becuase of that damn grommet.....and mrhonda speaking of that when i got my v cover gasket set from honda it came with v cover gasket......spark plug tube seals and grommets that go on the stude.....but how the fuck do you get the grommets off the studs? seriously they dont come off i didnt even use them. you probably know what i mean theres a lip on the bottom of the v cover studs that make it impossible for the grommets to slide off......i dont understand why they sell them seperatly. and im talking about the grommets that are on top of the v cover to keep oil from squirting through the top.

[mrhonda]

Oh yeah I know, I've stripped the valve cover bolt holes on Civics a couple times and ended up having to rethread them. Never had this problem on a F22 tho.

As for those bolt gromets, heres what you have to do; seperate the washer from the rubber part and just cut the rubber grommet and pull it off, the washer part will then slide right over the lip. Putting the new ones on is a pain in the ass, best way to do it is to place the bolt head in a vice, seperate the washer from the grommet (like you did on the old ones), slide the washer on, then slip a pocket screwdriver in between the stud and the grommet and twist it around so the grommet can slip over that lip on the stud. Does that make any sense? I'm telling you, it is a pain in the ass. Even with as many of those as I have done, and I still hate doing them. This whole procedure is the worst part of doing a Civic timing belt.