Hi,
I just notice a couple drops of oil on the ground where I park.
The drop on the ground are more on the driver side.

I look under and it seems to come from the oil pan.

Is it my oil pan gasket that need to be change ??


THanks for help !

 

There are a few places that can leak oil. You have to find the highest point on the engine that shows oil leaking.

Have you changed the oil lately on your car? Has any other work been done on the car?

Get a good look at the location of the drip. What side of the oil pan is the leak coming from? bumper or firewall. Driver's or Passenger's side. Or combination.

The highest point is the valve cover gasket. Oil pressure sending unit. Oil filter. From behind the timing belt cover. Oil pan gasket.

If you are not sure, clean the engine block and oil pan as much as possible and dry. Spray some athletes foot powder on the area. A leak will stain the power and help identify the leak.

 

Thanks PAHonda, I followed your recommendation and also took some picture. I cleaned all that mess and sprayed some powder and in a couple days I will check again.

Response 1 : For your questions, I changed the distributor o-ring seal a couple month ago since it was leaking too and now it is fine , no leak at the distributor.

Response 2 : I didn't change the oil since 5 months.

On the 3rd image , I completely forgot and already cleaned a little bit before taking the pictures.

II am surprised with all that oil on the motor, I only have about 5 drops on the ground.

It is hard to see where the leak come from, at least for me.

IMAGE 1




IMAGE 2





IMAGE 3




IMAGE 4





IMAGE 5

 

One other important item is to check your oil level and add oil when necessary. I'd keep a quart in the trunk in case of emergency.

Some of that oil on the passenger side/transmission may be left over from the distributor. Cleaning up should help out.

For now, I'd rule out the oil pan gasket, because there is a leak above it on the driver's side of the block. Look under the valve cover gasket on the driver's side of the engine. That leak may be from one of the seals behind the timing belt cover. When are you do for a timing belt change?

 

Hi PA,

The timing belt was done in 2009 with 213000KM
The car had now 250000KM, so the car was used for 37000KM in 4 years (which is a low mileage)

What seals behind the timing belt cover that can leak ??

 

There are 3 shaft seals and 1 o-ring. The front balance shaft, the camshaft, and the crankshaft seals could leak. The o-ring is for the rear balance shaft housing.

Did you do the timing belt before? Was there a seal retainer installed on the front balance shaft?

 

The timing belt was done by a mechanic in 2009. So I have no idea if there 's a seal retainer on the front balance shaft.
I guess yes if he did the job correctly.


I'll wait one more week to see where the leak come from.

I am happy to post my question here and had your feedback
and recommendation to clean the block and take time to identify the leak. One of my friend's mechanics look quickly
under my car and said "lets begin by changing the oil pan gasket "

 

This ^^^

If the only driveability issue was distributor related, and if you've eliminated that, then you've only the oil consumption cost issue.
Divide oil consumption out as Dollars/ Mile, really cents per mile, really fractions of cents per mile.

Which means don't worry about it, other than keeping oil quart in trunk as a standby.

 

Well the leak at the distributor, I fixed it a couple months ago and now no leak at the distributor.

The question is not the cost of oil, it is more peace of mind and security. I dont want the car to have a major oil leak and die in the middle of nowhere !

I could leave this leak like that and refill oil every couple K miles but the car can die anytime.

Well this week-end I am going to check the oil leak again. I will post update here

 

Hi PA,

So I checked again today, and the oil leak is from under the timing belt cover (see Image 1 above).

So I guess I have to check exactly which seal is leaking .


Do you have any recommendation on removing the cover ?


Is it worth to repair that oil leak ?
If I decide to not repair the defective seal, how safe is it to continue to drive ? I mean could the seal break and all the oil is coming out suddenly ?


Thanks fro your help.