Hello;

Description of the situation.

I have got a year 2000 Honda Accord LX. It has had an oil leak at the front of the engine.

I thought that it may have been the valve cover. I took it to the Honda dealer. They have worked on this same car before and have always did good work.

They said that I had three leaks. 1). The crankshaft seal and the camshaft seal; 2). the valve cover; 3). the oil pan gasket.

Last Tuesday they replaced the camshaft seal, the crankshaft seal, and the timing belt. Cost: $700

Last Thursday they replaced the valve cover gasket. Cost: $126

This morning I took it in to have the oil pan gasket replaced.

I was in the waiting room. The service man told me that the oil pan gasket was not leaking. He said that the camshaft was leaking oil.

He said that they may have made a mistake [by replacing the camshaft oil seal when it was the camshaft leaking].

The service man said that they may have to replace the camshaft.

He said they may need to keep the car for a few days. They let me have a loaner car.

Question 1. a). How could the camshaft be leaking? b). I am assuming that it could be the bearing at the end of the camshaft - is that right? c). Besides wear, what would cause a camshaft (bearing) to leak?

Question 2. a). What is the level of difficulty for replacing the camshaft? b). Do they have to lift the engine out of the car?


AutoZone guide to replacing the camshaft:
| Repair Guides | Engine Mechanical | Camshaft, Bearings And Lifters | AutoZone.com

 

Couple things don't make sense. First, why would they not replace the valvecover gasket on tuesday when they had it apart? I think they need to remove the valvecover for the timing-belt job.

The camshaft bearings are inside the seal. The bearings themselves WILL NOT and CANNOT seal oil. That's why there's a seal.

So the camshaft has a nice smooth surface where the seal is supposed to rub. If that surface was scratched or gouged up, it'll just tear up the new seal. That's why they're supposed to look at it to make sure it's nice & smooth.

Camshaft can be replaced without removing the engine. But the timing belt job is largely repeated. It's kinda difficult because all the rockers come out.

 

JimBlake;

Thanks for responding to my post.

* The Honda dealership service man just called on the phone. (8/7/12 at about 8:30 am) *

He said that it was not the camshaft at all. He said that it was the distributor oil ring.

They put dye in the oil last Tuesday. That's when they said it had the three oil leaks [mentioned above]. They didn't find the distributor oil ring leak last Tuesday.

The service man said that they have already replaced the distributor oil ring.

The service man just a few minutes ago when he called said that there was a small crack in the oil pan. The small crack is just above the drain plug.

I know it was leaking from the valve cover gasket. I could see that oil leak.

This same dealership two years and 16,700 miles ago replaced the water pump for this car. They replaced the camshaft seal and the crankshaft seals then. I am not convinced that they were leaking.

This car had several oil leaks. If they replaced the seals in error I don't feel that they did it on purpose.

Anyway, the mechanics have replaced the distributor o-ring. They are not going to charge me for that. The cost for the oil pan is $375.

That should have me fixed up for a while.

This car has got 237,000 miles on it. I am going to try to get at least 50,000 more miles out of it. As long as it runs good and does not leak oil I am going to keep driving it. It's really a good car.

 

Sounds good to me. If you like the car and the body structure isn't rotting (rust) then it should last more than another 50k.

 

Just me but this part of the story has me a bit worried?

 

Exactly. It had/has me concerned, too.

I pointed that out to the service man. They had the previous cam seal replacement on their computers. They gave me a 15% discount from the quoted price.

The camshaft seal and crankshaft seal had a 1 year, 12,000 mile warranty. So the previous repairs were out from under warranty.

The timing assembly has a cover over it. I'm not sure how they could tell since the seals were under the cover. The truth is I think the seals probably were not leaking.

It's aggravating but I think they just probably made a mistake. Perhaps the mechanic that did the original diagnosis was not completely competent.

It's experience. I've learned from it.

 

Well mis-diagnostic is probably going to become more and more of a problem at the dealerships. Flat Rate diagnostic pay is 0 zilch zip nada. Add to the fact that flat rate pay structures have been cut in half in the past 10 years.....you wind up with low pay and low mentality workers.
PAY PEANUTS And You Get MONKEYS