Hi,

I recently became the owner of a 1993 Accord. The car is a 10th anniversary edition with an automatic transmission, 2.2L, and roughly 260,000 miles.

I am having issues with the oil light coming on. I changed the sensor, oil & filter, and verified oil level but no effect. There is also a major oil leak apparently coming from somewhere behind the timing chain cover.

I am planning on tearing into the car next month, don't worry I'm not driving it, and fixing the oil leak and changing the timing chain and water pump. What I would like to know is if anyone has any suggestions, comments, or advice. Is there anything else I should do while I'm in there? Should I look at changing the oil pump? What could be causing the oil light to come on?

I know that is a lot of questions in my first real post. I do appreciate any help you guys can give. I'm not new to working on my own car, I've just never worked on a Honda before.

Thanks,
Jon

 

The oil leak is likely coming from one of the shaft seals behind the timing belt cover or the o-ring behind the oil pump sprocket. The balance shaft should have a retainer installed to prevent the oil seal from popping out. That was a big recall from honda and I would definitely install one on there. I would replace the tension bearings and both springs when replacing the TB.

Avoid running the engine with an oil soaked timing belt. If it breaks, then you will have to get a valve job on the cylinder head and replace the head gasket.

You would have to hook up an pressure gauge into the hole where the pressure sensor is screwed in. The low pressure can come from a number of sources. Bad oil pump, clogged oil passages, the major oil leak you mentioned, the pickup could have been bent under the oil pan, etc.

I would also look to see if there is any oil in the coolant, or vise-versa.

 

I would verify you have correct oil pressure before investing money into your Honda. With 260,000 miles the motor may be worn out and need rod and main bearing plus more. Does the oil light come on at idle after running for awhile?

 

Last time I had it out it the light did not come on until I stopped at a stoplight. Then it started flashing at me.

 

That is the common symptom of low oil pressure as the pressure is lowest at that point. I would put a gauge on it and see what you have with a warm engine. If you have low oil pressure the next step would be pull the oil pan and inspect the bearing, oil pump, oil pump screen, and sludge condition of engine in general.

 

agree with Kris,,,,,,,,,first thing you need to do is to chk the oil pressure ,,

 

The first car my wife purchased when we were dating had the oil light come on when fully warmed at idle. I learned a lot really quick. We got lucky a new oil pump gave up around three years before it finally needed an engine. As the oil gets hot your pressure goes down and is lowest at idle in gear, I don’t know the pressure needed to keep the oil light off but in my experience it is pretty low. If the oil pump and screen is in good shape low oil pressure is usually excessive clearance between the crank and rods after that crank and mains.

 

Being that the miles are as high as they are I'm think I may be better off with rebuilding the engine. Any thoughts on this?

 

My thoughts are do an oil pressure test to see what you have. I get surprised all the time. If you do have low pressure a rebuild may be the way to go.