I was just quoted $1,500 to fix an oil leak, they claim, after dropping dye to locate leaks, I'm leaking from the following: Reseal oil pan, Replace Timing belt, water pump, and front engine seals, Replace rear main seal. OK, my car has close to 200K, but is it possible all spots are leaking at once? Thanks, --jp
How bad is the leak? At two bucks a quart, $1500 = 750 quarts. If you're adding a quart a week, your break even point on the repair is 15 years out. Bet you'll have a new car way before that ;-)
Supposedly, the mechanic said my timing belt might snapped causing more damage, or the oil pan could just fail, spilling out all the oil. --tj
Yes. At only 200k, your car should not be leaking from ANY of those spots. But that depends on your oil change regimen.
Is there oil on the belt right now? Is it pooling in the lower timing belt cover? Is it just the gasket leaking, or is oil seeping from rust holes in the pan? If the first, you can drive like this forever so long as the nuts are snug and you keep a sharp eye on the oil level. If the second, get that pan replaced now.
first things first - make sure there's not anything stupid and cheap to fix like a clogged pcv valve. then make sure all nuts and bolts are tight. then change the brand of oil to one with decent seal conditioners in it. google this group for my experiences and biased opinions on this subject.
what about it? is it past the mileage or age limits? is it saturated in oil and showing signs of fraying? is it genuine honda oem?
If all of those items are leaking that is probably not a bad price. Thing is, just how bad are the leaks? A local dealer told my sister-in-law that the auto transmission, power steering, and various engine seals and gaskets were leaking, on her '91 Civic. And, that terrible thing would happen if the were not fixed "immediately." I asked her this: do you have fluid of any kind leaking on the floor? Do you continue to "top off" the engine, auto/trans and p/s with fluid? Her answer: no Then continue driving until one of the two occurs. 80K miles later she sold the car and there were still no leaks, or none bad enough to leak on the floor or add to between changes. So, I ask you the same: Do you continue to "top off" the engine, auto/trans and p/s with fluid? no: continue driving yes: get a second opinion for repair cost. -- Tp, -------- __o ----- -\<. -------- __o --- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<. -------------------- ( )/ ( )
Honda interference engines can be damaged (valves bent) if the timing belt snaps. Parts-wise, timing belt needs to repalced at regular intervals, but if the front seal needs to be replaced then it's not unreasonable to replace the timing belt even before the interval is up (because you take all that apart to get to the front main seal). And every time you replace the timing belt, some do the water pump too, and cam seals, drive belts, idler pulleys. So doing those together sounds reasonable too. The rear main seal (made of more durable viton rubber) is a bugger requiring separating the engine/transmission. Is it leaking that badly? Do check the PCV valve. Or just get a new one with new grommet at that mileage. Use high mileage oil and see how things go if the rate is not too bad. Plugged PCV can cause oil leaks from pressurization of the crankcase. If you have to do them, see if you can leave the viton rear main seal. That way you should be able to cut the price in half (doing only the comprehensive timing package: drive belts, timing belt, balancer belt, idler/tensioner pulleys, water pump, cam/crank seals, maybe valve clearance check/cover gasket set too) plus oil pan gasket.
Original belt? Yes, replace. When belt goes away, pistons and valves come and play. But they don't play nice. Had a 84 Ford Escort GT throw its belt at about 10K miles. Two exhaust valves, one intake valve and two pistons. We went to court with FoMoCo. I can't discuss what came of it, but you can make inferences based on this statement.
1984??? are you not outside the statute of limitations? besides - what you're alluding to is no secret.
No. Sealed is sealed. The settlement, silly. The one I'm happy with. OTOH, the Escort, which we kept for another 4 years, was the last Big 3 car we bought. Carol's 96 Accord was a US built car, but that's not the same thing.
OK. Yesterday I brought the car into the shop to have the following work done: Replace Front Engine Seals Replace Timing Belts Replace Water Pump. Replace spark plugs The final bill was for $499 + tax The work was done in hopes to fix an oil leak, but the oil still leaks, just less. I was told by the mechanic that the leaks are still coming from the oil pan and the rear main seal, but there aren't as many leaks now, and the oil leaking on the timing belt, which was behind the distributor cap, has been fixed. The mechanic scared me into thinking the oil leaking on the timing belt could cause more wear and potentially cause it to snap. I guess I was due for a new timing belt and after 230K miles the seals are all probably bad, is this safe to assume, and does this sound like somebody that knows what he's talking about? Regards, --tj
have you tried a different brand of oil yet to stop the leak like i suggested? different oils have different seal conditioners. some apparently have none judging by the way they make older oil seals leak.
I don't have the receipts for that car, but it didn't cost much to replace the gasket for my 96 Civic's oil pan. Yeah, getting oil on the timing belt is normally considered "a bad thing". Main seals are one of those fuzzy areas. I know folks with cars that have in excess of 250 K miles and no issues, others with 150 K who have had to replace them. Why?
my 89 civic leaked oil from the main seal like a mfsob at only 105k miles. it was literally running out of there. long story short, i changed the brand of oil i was using, and it stopped a couple of weeks thereafter. here i am at 176k miles, and the seal i bought to make the repair is still in my parts box because that engine is simply hasn't started leaking again. the moral of the story is, before getting stressed about seal replacement, change to a brand of oil that has decent seal conditioners in it. my problem oil was motorcraft. the brand that stopped the leak was castrol gtx. i'm currently running mobil 1, and no leaks.
read my other post. i don't call 70k miles and a totally dry underside a "patch". and it sure beats having the local wrench jockey screw up your exhaust manifold studs, bend your transmission input shaft splitting the box from the motor, stripping treads, using silicone sealant when they should be using non-hardening, etc., and then having the same problem again in 50k miles because you're still using crappy oil.