Trying to Diagnose Oil Leak on 98 Accord
#11
01-18-2014, 09:52 AM
Based on this reference photo from an earlier Honda Civic, it looks like the oil pan seals against the engine block pretty close to the seal:
If this is how your engine is situated it seems like you're going to have a bit of difficulty figuring out which seam the oil is coming out of.
When you remove the cover plate you will see the flywheel pretty close to the opening. If it's possible to get one of those small round mirrors in there, maybe with mirror and flashlight you will be able to get a visual.
Without that, it seems like your only option before pulling the tranny, is to pull the oil pan and replace the gasket, and see if that fixes the problem.
If this is how your engine is situated it seems like you're going to have a bit of difficulty figuring out which seam the oil is coming out of.
When you remove the cover plate you will see the flywheel pretty close to the opening. If it's possible to get one of those small round mirrors in there, maybe with mirror and flashlight you will be able to get a visual.
Without that, it seems like your only option before pulling the tranny, is to pull the oil pan and replace the gasket, and see if that fixes the problem.
#12
01-19-2014, 07:16 PM
How much of a leak do you have?
If it's rear main seal and you only get a drip or two each time you stop the car, then the rear seal just might be hard and need to be softened up ... in which case I would try playing with additives and oil weight before shelling out $800 to have the $15 rear main seal replaced. To do this ...
Try adding Barrs Rear Main Seal Leak stop and see what happens for a week or two, then change the oil. People have recommended against leaving this stuff in too long, so just a couple of weeks max to see if it can soften the rubber up enough for it to seal better.
If the leak appears to be stopping, then just use the same oil as before and monitor. If you are on regular oil, try high mileage oil which already has some of the leak stop additive in it.
If the leak doesn't appear to be stopping, then increase oil weight, e.g. 5w30 -> 5w40 or 10w40.
If this leak started suddenly and is more than a few drops here and there, then it sounds like the rear seal could be failing in a big way. Again it's a $15 part, but the cost to get to it is immense. If you can get a price from a mechanic that's much cheaper than $800 please let us know.
If it's rear main seal and you only get a drip or two each time you stop the car, then the rear seal just might be hard and need to be softened up ... in which case I would try playing with additives and oil weight before shelling out $800 to have the $15 rear main seal replaced. To do this ...
Try adding Barrs Rear Main Seal Leak stop and see what happens for a week or two, then change the oil. People have recommended against leaving this stuff in too long, so just a couple of weeks max to see if it can soften the rubber up enough for it to seal better.
If the leak appears to be stopping, then just use the same oil as before and monitor. If you are on regular oil, try high mileage oil which already has some of the leak stop additive in it.
If the leak doesn't appear to be stopping, then increase oil weight, e.g. 5w30 -> 5w40 or 10w40.
If this leak started suddenly and is more than a few drops here and there, then it sounds like the rear seal could be failing in a big way. Again it's a $15 part, but the cost to get to it is immense. If you can get a price from a mechanic that's much cheaper than $800 please let us know.
#13
01-19-2014, 07:42 PM
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#14
01-19-2014, 11:05 PM
It's the same oil that would be leaking from the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket. As kris-loehr says, this is one of those where a picture would help out a lot.
Back to the photo above, can you get a picture from that vantage point? Granted you would have to stick a mirror inside the opening where you took off the cover plate. The oil is either leaking between crankshaft and the (black) seal surrounding it, or between the (light metal) engine block and the oil pan underneath it.
Back to the photo above, can you get a picture from that vantage point? Granted you would have to stick a mirror inside the opening where you took off the cover plate. The oil is either leaking between crankshaft and the (black) seal surrounding it, or between the (light metal) engine block and the oil pan underneath it.
#15
01-20-2014, 04:13 PM
I got back under the car with a small mechanics telescoping mirror & the UV light again and I was able to see the UV oil dye above the oil pan gasket line, so I confirmed it was the rear main sea leaking. I called around to 5 repair shops in the East Orlando area and 4 out of 5 came back with repair estimates between $593 - $650 but one shop came back with $350 cost to repair. The shop that quoted me $350 has also replace the timing belt on this same Accord 2 yrs ago, so they've good work for me. I haven't had any problems since then. I'm going to drop it off Thurs and I'll let you guys know how it worked out for me with this repair for so cheap. I made sure he's going to use the Honda OEM rear main seal as well.
#16
01-20-2014, 06:08 PM
The seal itself is about $15 from Honda, so if you want to be absolutely sure you might just want to buy it yourself and drop it off.
When you know what you're doing and have the right tools I'll bet you can get the tranny out within a couple of hours and back in same time. I think most shops are charging for seven hours of labor (which might be the service book standard for that job) and at $90-120/hr you have your higher prices. The cheaper mechanic may just have lower overhead, be charging you less per hour and using actual job time rather than the bluebook time. (Of course I wish there were mechanics around here in that would do that ... I'd pay $400 in a heartbeat ...)
What's your location?
When you know what you're doing and have the right tools I'll bet you can get the tranny out within a couple of hours and back in same time. I think most shops are charging for seven hours of labor (which might be the service book standard for that job) and at $90-120/hr you have your higher prices. The cheaper mechanic may just have lower overhead, be charging you less per hour and using actual job time rather than the bluebook time. (Of course I wish there were mechanics around here in that would do that ... I'd pay $400 in a heartbeat ...)
What's your location?
#17
01-24-2014, 08:25 AM
My car is finally repaired. I picked it up yesterday from the shop and its running great so far without any oil leak. They showed me the warn out rear main seal they took out and it was shot. They complete that repair for $350 out the door ($332.50 labor + $18.50 for the seal). Anyone needing that kind repair in East Orl look up VMP Auto Service on North Goldenrod Rd. They've replaced the timing belt on this same Accord 2 yrs ago so they have a good track record with me and they guarantee their work of course.
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