My 88 accord LXi had an oil leak, diagnosed front crank seal from the looks of it. Purchased a fel-pro replacement seal, installed it put everything back together and ran it, the leak occurred again, also again only while running.

I then checked the camshaft oil seal and made sure it wasn't just dripping down while running, and that seal is still clean. I installed the seal even all the way around, after a bit of annoyance, but it looked solid and level once I was done.

Without taking the car back apart, any ideas or diagnosing? Main seal is the only thing I can think of with dripping behind the crankshaft pulley, did I buy a bad seal?

Thanks for any help

 

Could be the seal. I can oly assume you did the belts, wp and that while there.

The front oil pan seal could also leak. Then there is the cam seal , but that is up on the motor...but could leak down and out the lower cover.

I'm old and it is late, memory is gone as well.....do the 3rd gen's have a "flat" on the seal or is it like the newer ones where the seal should actually be recessed a tad bit.

 

by "flat" i didn't mean flush, i meant like even all the way around. Yes it is recessed in a bit.

Like I said I checked the cam seal and it wasn't dripping down. I actually removed the upper timing belt cover and checked while it was running.

Would the front oil pan seal leak off of the lower timing belt cover?

Thanks for the insights

 

If it helps

88 Accord LXi
2D hatchback
F/I
PS equipped

 

crank seal and main seal will leak oil at 2 totally different places

if leak is behind frt crank pulley at bottom of lower t-belt cover could be a crank seal or oil pan gasket
main seal you will notice a leak between engine and tranny

you have to be careful when installing the crank seal, they have a spring that goes on the inside lip of the seal , i have seen those spring pop out upon installation , thus the seal will leak

 

Haynes book didn't say anything about a spring, the crank seal just looked like a seal inside of a metal bore with the bearing behind it.

Did i miss something?

Also by main seal I meant front "main" bearing "seal", my bad for shortening it. Regardless I'll have to check if it is in fact the crank seal, but is it confirmed that the front oil pan gasket will drip at the bottom of the lower timing belt cover?