1998 Honda Accord LX - auto trans - 4 door - 180,000 miles

I am trying to keep my Accord from losing oil. It isn't bad, maybe 3/4 quart every 1,000 miles. I changed the valve cover gasket (I think this was 20% of the problem). No leaks now for this portion...

I am looking at the oil pan and it's obvious most of the oil leak is on the driver side of the oil pan. The passenger side of the oil pan looks fairly clean. I cannot get to the oil pan bolts on the driver side because there is a bracket or some kind of cover that is hiding the far driver side portion of the oil pan. It is not sheet metal, but a thick bracket type metal that covers the driver portion of the oil pan and it looks like I can tighten 4-5 oil pan bolts, if I can remove this bracket. This bracket is curved and is about 5 inches wide, about a foot long and maybe 1/2 inch thick.

What is this metal part? It looks like it is holding the transmission to the engine, but there is only 4 large bolts. I would like to remove this "bracket", tighten the oil pan bolts and then put the bracket back on. Is this something I can do without something dropping off or breaking off?

I looked on the internet and cannot find what this is.

Any advice is appreciated and if anyone knows where else oil can leak on the engine, let me know! I would like to get it so I can check / add 1/2 quart of oil every 2,000 miles!

Robert

 

I did this job (replaced oil pan gasket) on my 94EX and found I had to remove the flywheel cover and a bracket that was part of the AT shift control cable.

Following video my help.


good luck

 

I am not 100% sure, but I think this may be the part I am talking about.

ALTERNATOR BRACKET Honda OEM Parts -- 1998 HONDA ACCORD for 4DR LX - Automatic

It is #1 - "engine stiffener"? If this part partially covers the driver side of the oil pan, then this is what I think I need to remove, so I can tighten the 4-5 oil pan bolts to reduce the oil leaks on the driver side.

Can I remove this part without compromising anything? No need to support the engine or anything? Nothing will twist and I end up having a hard time putting the "stiffener" back on or getting the bolts back on?

 

You should only need to support engine if you remove a motor mount.

Are you sure you can't reach bolts w/ swivel or wobbly extension?

Oil can leak from main crankshaft seal near transmission. It might look like oil from oil pan. Your pan is apparently sealed w/ RTV and not a gasket. This means tightening bolts is less likely to help.

Other oil leak possibilities are rear balance shaft cover gasket underneath timing belts, oil pressure switch on rear of engine, and distributor/cylinder head oring, and distributor internal shaft seal.

I had similar experience w/ my 94EX, and found that tightening bolts had no effect. When oil pan was removed I found the gasket was hard and brittle.

good luck

 

Agreed. In my experience, more often than not, folks attempting to tighten their oil pan bolts end up stripping the threads in the block. That and they virtually never stop any leaks.

Long story short, if the pan gasket is leaking, replace said gasket.

 

Thank you for this information! SCRATCH OFF the oil pan bolt tightening plan. I would love to change the oil pan gasket, but the part that makes me uncomfortable is having to disconnect the exhaust pipe.

Hopefully, just replacing the rocker cover gasket will make enough of a difference. I know before I changed the gasket, that when I changed the oil, I could see new oil coming out within a day or 2.

Thanks again for this information!

 

Ha! I should have read this thread a week ago. I tried tightening the bolts on my pan to stop the slow drip, and I thikn I made it a bit worse now.

The car looks like it has a gasket on it so it must have been replaced in the past ... so I think I'm going to replace it myself and see if I can stop this leak.