The situation: '88 Accord, 245K miles. Recent fixes (just as background info): replaced starter, distributor, combination switch. Has had lots of oil leaks for years, but they have recently seemed to increase in how much oil is leaking. Not sure why - further breakdown on what seals remain, new leaks. Who knows. Even to the point when I took it for an oil change the place REFUSED to do it because of the leaks (and the dieseling, they added).

Other key factors - I'm cheap , have 2 kids in college and a third not far away, and wifey-poo has been hammering me for about 2 years to get rid of our Suburban with 165K miles on it. And I know very little about the mechanics of cars.

Two mechs who I trust who have worked on tell me there is oil leaking everywhere.

Questions:
1. I have seen suggestions that one can 'power wash' the engine with a degreaser product to wash away all the caked on oil to better see source of leaks. Good idea? How to do it? What to be careful of?
2. One of the 2 mechs who work on it (and both I trust) has told me he saw a lot of leakage around the timing belt area, figures it is the cam shaft and crank shaft seals. He said with a timing belt replacement he could replace those seals at the same time and probably take care of a fair amount of my leakage. He had to look at the timing belt recently so came to that suggestion. The tbelt hasn't been replaced for 120K so it could use it. However, mech pulled tbelt cover off to troubleshoot recently and said it looked OK. So don't NEED a tbelt replacement, but could use one. He would do the belt and water pump for $310, seals a bit extra. This is a good price, but not sure if throwing good $$ after bad, but cheaper than a car payment (or about one month of car payment) I figure.
3. A neighbor has a mechanic friend who does work on the side for $20 an hour. That sounds pretty tempting. Not sure if he works on Hondas or not.
4. Have also heard a common area of leakage in 'vintage' Hondas is the oil pan gasket seal. Easy way to tell if that is leaking?
5. Have also read a common area of leakage on old cars is rear main seal. Also heard that is tremendously expensive to repair. Apparently have to remove transmission. However, have also been told I have tranny leak(s). Any way to easily tell if RMS is leaking?
6. Any other suggestions? Other likely areas of leaking that I should check out? Time to replace?

There are some very knowledgable wrenches out there, so am looking forward to yourr responses.

thanks.

 

Well not much to go one here as far as what end/side it's coming from.,,,,I like #2 but can't be sure.
1. Power wash?? or good old engine degreaser, most of those you just use your garden hose. I've done it many times-follow the directions on the can, watch out for the dist area...is this a DX, LX or LX-i? If DX or LX then also be careful of letting the water sit on top of the air cleaner and leak into the carb.
2. If you trust him and it has been that long since the t-belt change, sounds like something to do..120K since the last change, you are driving on borrowed time. Is the leak more towards the left/drivers side? EDIT: If the belt breaks, you'll be done...bent valves will make the oil leak issue seem like nothing.$$$$$$
3. Up to you....? Def do the seals (cam and crank) and tensioner.
4. Would have to clean it to be sure....there are some places that sell UV dye that can be added to help find the source.
5. Rear main would put the "drips" more to the middle or right/pass side of the car, again hard to say without knowing where the leaks are coming from.
6. I could guess at a few other places,,,vc gasket, dist o ring, oil pres switch, oil filter, pcv tube-under intake into oil pan, ect...BUT I'm guessing on these.

Get a can or two of eng cleaner, follow the directions. Clean it up. Fill the oil to the proper level, drive for some time, park on a clean spot in the driveway or over cardboard or something, narrow down "where" it is coming from....ANOTHER EDIT, Sorry: When was the last tune up "dieseling"?

 

I'm not sure if the O ring and oil cooler are in the same place on your 88, but my '91 and my uncle's '93 has an O ring in between the oil cooler and engine block. If you remove the oil filter, there should be a bolt that you can unbolt, and the whole assembly will come off. My Uncle's '93 was leaking oil like a siv. It's about a 4 dollar part, and a 5 minute job. I hope that this helps.

 

a big leaky area is the oil pan, an easy check would be to see if all your bolts are there and try seeing if they are snug. I just changed my oil pan gasket on my 93 thanks to the DIYs section. I was missing a bolt and a few were hand tight. It used to leak like a siv but now maybe a drop or two if any. I couldn't follow the DIYs exactly since my rear exhaust flange bolts were beyond hope(socket slipped due to corrosion) I had to leave it be and work around it. Just a warning that your lucky if everything goes according to the text book YMMV.
to clean the grease and debris from oil pan you can use engine deagreaser, simple green or my favorite super clean, you'll need a part's cleaning brush(for the hard to reach places) and/or scouring pad, water hose and wear disposable gloves, just like washing dirty pots and pan but worse. you may have to repeat more than once depending on how well you scrub.
that's my take on it if its just the oil pan.
Thank You DIYs!!!