I had oil leaking from the distributor body on my 94EX. The reason is worn shaft seal on the distributor shaft. It is replaceable, but somwhat tedious and requires disassembly of the distributor. If you see evidence of oil draining from the distributor cap/distributor lower body seam, then the seal is at least part of the oil leak.

Here's the link to distributor repair instructions.

http://techauto.te.funpic.org/archiv...ributordetails

good luck

 

I've cleaned the entire engine bay, been driving for about a week now. I have not seen any oil build up on the upper part of the engine. But, I have seen oil on top of the passanger side axel. I feel like giving up on "DIY" and taking it to a shop when I get the moonies.

 

Hello all, yes I know this thread is a little over a year old now, but I am still having the old problem.
Their has been some progress though.
I came to the conclusion that it is not leaking from the bearing cap, maybe.
I have circled an area that looks might be the problem. Lots of pictures!!!
I did not take of the distro, for better pictures, but I think these should be sufficient.
I'm thinking it is that hose, or maybe the head gasket?










This is the other side of the hose.



This is why I said maybe to the bearing cap, because their is oil there, but how did the oil get to the back of the transmission.
It seems like the hose or a head gasket would be able to get the oil there, but not this.

 

please, go ahead. tell me what you think it might be. this is a project car, meaning i want to learn how to work on cars. I have a little miata, so I wont be without a car.

 

I seem to see oil under the distributor, so I'm not sure I'd rule out the distributor O-ring or the cam bearing cap. That's still based on the photos, cause I can't see it firsthand. Maybe there's something you can see but can't get a good photo of it. Seeing it firsthand would be a big plus.

How about scratches across the surfaces where the distributor O-ring seals? That would be the bottom of the O-ring groove (on the distributor) and the bore that the distributor installs into.

 

I've already replace the o-ring, so I guess my next step is to replace the bearing cap seal. I do have a manual, btw. I'll replace it over the weekend or tonight, once I'm out from class. I'll also be posting the results in a couple of days, once I see if the leak has been fixed.

 

I'll assume you pulled the dist cap off and made sure there is no oil inside of the dist.

 

i did. nothing there.
i did change the heater hose, which is pulling antifreeze towards the heater core.
haven't worked on the bearing cap yet, had a busy day yesterday.

 

BTW: Did you "clip" the cable back on the heater control valve?

Ok so the dist "inner" seal is good....last thing to offer, are you sure this couldn't be coming from the VTEC solenoid....

 

Just because you didn't see oil inside the distributor cap doesn't mean the inner shaft seal isn't leaking. The drain for the distributor is at 6o'clock position. If you examine closely you should be able to see stains on the inner surface of distributor where oil drains from inner seal and out of distributor cap. You need to remove the upper distributor shaft support to see the oil seal and directly observe the leak path.

From your pictures, the inner oil seal seems most likely, although I thought you replaced the distributor? If you did replace, the inner seal is unlikely the source of oil.

good luck