Well you need to go right back to that mechanic and tell him straight up front that he lied thru his teeth to you.
If the Alternator was only putting out 11 volts the battery light on the dash would be on.
#2- Oil would not short or ground out the spark. Oil DOES NOT conduct electricity and was used for many years as insulation in transformers.

 

Ya, I don't have much luck with mechanics - that's why I've gone to so many of them. It seems like all the ones around here are crap. I don't know for sure, but I thought that $800 was WAY over priced for a timing belt - the old one wasn't even broke, I just had it replaced to fix the oil leaks and because Honda says to change it every so many miles. Naturally, it made sense to me to have a new water pump installed too, because they have to take it off anyway to get the timing belt off.

As far as the alternator is concerned, you're right about the light not coming on - what gave me reason to suspect that it was bad in the first place was because at night, with the headlights on, if I run the rear window defroster and say, the A/C at the same time with all the lights on, the lights would go dim. But you know what, I've noticed they STILL do that, and I installed a new alternator myself. (I took his word that the old one was bad, but I bought the replacement part myself and installed it personally because I won't pay labor and marked-up part prices on easy stuff that I can do myself.)

It doesn't bother me too bad- the alternator wasn't too terribly expensive, and at least now I don't have to wonder or worry about it. Plus, I took the liberty of checking the belts and stuff while I was in there, so ... I think my battery might have a weak cell in it or something. It's next on my list ... after this oil leak problem.

In regards to the valve cover gasket being installed without gasket sealer, I can't promise you that the guy that did the job even replaced the gasket at all ... and no, I won't be going there again. Heck, I picked the car up, and drove it about 4-6 miles down the road, and it started over-heating. (It didn't actually overheat - but the temperature gauge climbed a LOT higher than it has ever gone before - but only while I was stopped at a traffic light. It went back to normal going down the road.) Anyway, I took it straight back and told the guy at the desk that it wasn't done yet, because it was overheating. Come to find out, the jerk that did the work didn't top the antifreeze coolant off when he got done. The guy that came out told me I had an "air bubble" in the system. There was definitely an "air bubble" somewhere, but it wasn't in my radiator system ... get my drift?

Anyhow - now that I've gone WAY off topic ... back to the oil leak situation:

I took it down tonight and pressure washed the whole front and bottom of the engine compartment. There was so much crud and gunk on it, I wouldn't have had a prayer of seeing anything anyway. Anyhow, it's clean now. I noticed that there does seem to be some oil leaking from somewhere right under the exhaust manifold - I can't be sure because the manifold and manifold shroud were in the way. I have an extendable mirror that I tried to use to look under the exhaust manifold shroud, but I couldn't see anything.

I'm starting to think that it's not the head gasket. Now that everything is cleaned, I can see that the "seam" for the bottom of the cylinder head looks dry.I don't see any oil except right under the exhaust manifold shroud, behind the exhaust pipe. (So, I guess it could still be the head gasket.)

Also worthy of mentioning, I think my oil pan gasket is STILL leaking. Someone is going to install a new gasket for free if it is, or give me my money back. I was looking down from the front-top of the engine, and I could actually see the front lip of the oil pan. I stuck my hand down there and ran my fingers along the lip and I could feel the rubber gasket where it was sticking out a little around the edge of the pan. When I pulled my hand back, I had fresh oil on my fingertips. It seems to me that ifa new pan gasket was in place, my fingers should have been dry.

At this point I am at a complete loss as far as what is going on. As I said, I beleive I saw some fresh oil ABOVE the oil pan, almost right behind the exhaust pipe on the front of the engine. But, it wasn't near as much oil as what has been leaking out over the last couple of days. Is there an exhaust manifold gasket on this car? If so, does it seal any oil passages or anything?

I can see where the oil is leaking onto the exhause pipe, and is being blown all the way back from the front to the connector where the pipe bolts to the other exhaust pipe about 4-5 inches in front of the catalytic converter.

I think I'm going to have to put it in the shop again - if I can find one that is trustworthy. The engine is clean enough now to where someone with good lights and a lift should be able to see under this thing to find out where this oil is coming from.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Dave

 

Where are you? Maybe someone can recommend a good shop?

There IS an exhaust manifold gasket where the manifold bolts to the head. That does not carry any oil passages. And like I said, the PRESSURIZED oil passages are at the back near the oil filter.



Sideof the engine towards the front of the cardoesn't have any seams in the middle. There's the oil pumpat the end where the drive belts are located. The rear main seal carrier is at the other end (#9), but that's completely contained within the tranny bellhousing.

I can't think of anything elsethere on the frontthat can leak oil except the headgasket & oilpan gasket. So that leaves possibly a crack in the block?? Hopefully it's residual oil if you just used pressure water without any degreaser.

 

You are right - what I thought was a seam before has turned out to be a solid peice of metal. I just thought there was a seam because of all the oil caked up on the front of the engine.

I agree that what I saw might be residual oil - although I did use a degreaser (whatever kind they have at the carwash for tires / motors ... some kind of green stuff, who knows.)

I am located in Western NC - Henderson County. If anybody does have any shop recommendations, I'm open to suggestions.

Also, I'm thinking it might even be the oil pan gasket still leaking - I think it could be possible that the oil on the front of the engine might be getting blown up there from the front lip of the oil pan while I'm driving down the road. Plus, the oil that I saw on the front of the engine after I pressure washed it wasn't anywhere near enough to be what has been leaking the past couple of days - the leak I have is pretty bad - it's enough to put about 2 half-dollar sized puddles under the engine - both under the oil pan. (One under the exhaust pipe where it drips off the pipe, and the the other under the oil pan but over on the drive-belt side.)

As I said before, I'm going to put this back in the shop and have a thorough inspection done. The front and bottom of the engine are a lot cleaner now than before, so maybe someone with a lift and better lighting can get under the car and really see where this oil is coming from.

I will post what the shop says when I hear something about it. If anyone has any shop suggestions, please let me know. Also, if there's a list of common points for oil leaks, I can maybe take that list to the shop and tell the guy to make sure to check all those points. (Along with everything else.)

Anyway, thanks for all the info and suggestions.

Regards,
Dave

PS: Also, looking at your diagram above, if you look at #23, I was seeing oil just above that and all across the front there in that area. However, MOST (99%) of the oil I saw after I pressure washed the front of the engine was located below that point, closer to the oil pan. The drivebelt side looked pretty dry, and the area around the distributor side is bone dry. I don't even see old residual oil over on that side of the engine. (Again, what I did see above #23 after the cleaning wasn't even a quarter as much as what I was seeing on the ground under the car before.)

 

OK, I jacked the car up tonight and got under it with a flashlight. I also did a thorough inspection of the areas around the timing belt cover. I took some pictures for everyone to see, I wanted to get some input ...

First off, I believe I have two major points where oil is leaking. Originally, I thought everything was coming from the front - but now that the front is clean, I've realized I made a mistake. Both oil leaks are coming from the rear. One is coming from somewhere around the oil filter. I couldn't see very well back there to be exactly sure where, but it's definitely coming from the back. It's dripping right onto the connector where the front exhaust pipe joins with the rear exhaust pipe leading to the catalytic converter.

The second leak is somewhere on the drivebelt side of the engine. I am not sure where, but I'm beginning to think the danged timing belt cover is leaking again. (If you recall from my earlier posts, I had the timing belt done a few months ago - along with the valve cover gasket. The valve cover gasket had to be re-replaced because it started leaking again.)

So, I'm taking this to the shop Friday, I'll let you know what is said. In the meantime, I have some pictures I will post on here that I wanted to get some feedback for ... as soon as I figure out how to get them on here.

Regards,
Dave

 

Well, it might be a little bit before I get those photos on here - the site keeps telling me the files are too large. (They're about 45KB each, about 400 x 400 resolution, if I make them any smaller / lower resolution, I don't think you'd be able to tell what you were looking at ...)

I'll look into it later when I'm not so tired.

Regards,
Dave

 

I don't think your engine has an oil cooler, so the oil filter is directly on the block. See whether it's gasket is seated properly. Rear leak might be coming from the oil pressure switch (above the oil filter).

The timing cover doesn't seal any oil in. If it's leaking from there, that means it's REALLY leaking from one of the shaft seals inside there. Camshaft, balance shafts, crankshaft each have their own oil seal.

Then there's the oil pump itself (below). NOT VERY LIKELY, but ??? The pump forms the whole lower half of that end of the engine, & it's bolted to the block with HondaBond sealant.

 

I will have that oil pressure switch checked out. Maybe it's part of the problem. I can't say for sure that the timing cover is leaking - I will have it looked at as well. I can say that it shouldn't be leaking though, I just had all those seals replaced on 3/21/2008. (I pulled the paperwork from the guy that did the timing belt.)

Anyway, it's going in the shop tomorrow hopefully - I think I found a new shop that has a good reputation with the BBB. This guy specializes in import vehicles, so maybe I'll have better luck.

I will post what I find out as soon as I know something.

Regards,
Dave

 

Did you ever get this figured out? For the leak over the exhaust, it's likely the o-ring behind the oil cooler (if you have an oil cooler, or it's leaking from the oil pressure switch above the oil cooler/oil filter. A new switch is cheap $5-10, so I would just replace it. The o-ring for the oil cooler is about $4. Don't pay some shady mechanic to do this, you can do it yourself, but you'll need a 30mm (I think) socket.

The leak from the timing cover is either from the cam shaft, balance shaft or crank shaft seals, but you said the first mechanic replaced these (better double check that make sure he didn't bone you). The other possiblity is the oil pump seal. Replacing this means taking the timing belt and associated bits and pieces off again.

 

try replacing the oring on the distributer.. that has a tendancey to faill.........