[mikemo]

Well, I fixed one of my oil leaks (distributor o-ring), but I still have oil dripping near the front of the engine. It's hard to see, but looks to be coming from around the oil pump. The engine is dry above that level.

I'd like to fix the leak to avoid future issues. Am I good to just replace the o-ring and the crank seal, or should I replace the entire oil pump? I want to get this done within the next few months before it gets too hot to work outside on the car (comfortably). BTW, the engine has about 230k miles on it. I replaced the timing belt and water pump only 10k miles ago so I think I'll leave those alone if they are not oil soaked.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[craig baconator]

I’m curious, when you replaced the timing belt did you try and remove the crankshaft sprocket? Mine was seized on there and I decided to leave it alone. I read one thread where a member couldn’t get it off and mashed it up trying. I’m also a bit frustrated by oil leaks but I’m scared of wrecking things trying to get that apart. I guess I’d need something like a blowtorch.

 

[mikemo]

Craig,
I did both timing belt jobs on this car during its lifetime at 100k and 200k miles. I never removed the timing belt sprocket, just the crank pulley. Now that you mention it, that is a bit concerning if it gets stuck. I am going to replace the front seal on the oil pump, so I can use a torch to get it hot and not have to worry about the seal.

If it gets too bad I guess you could break it to get it off and just replace it ($85 from Honda).

I'll let you know how it goes. I HATE oil leaks so this must be fixed.
Thanks.

 

[Aeroscott]

Mine had an oil leak from what I thought was the crank seal too, I had to remove the head to redo a valve seat and when I took the valve cover off I found the leak, I had a little wrinkle in the valve cover gasket that was pouring oil between the inner timing cover and the block, I found it after I had replaced the crank seal and the oil pan gasket, needless to say shes all sealed up now and oil lasts until time to be changed. seems I always go overboard when working on my own stuff. there is also an updated oil pan gasket available from fel pro as apparently there was a problem with the factory gasket leaking in the corners, it was super easy to install with exhaust and cylinder head out of the way. my crank pulley pulled off by hand had no problems with it.... sorry..

 

[mikemo]

I finished replacing the oil pump o-ring and front crank seal. When I got the front of the engine disassembled I could see that it was obviously leaking there. The motor also got a new oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket. This repair took me about 9 hours, start to finish, in the driveway (including setup and cleanup). It was a fairly big job and I'm pretty tired, but happy to have it done. There's no evidence of leaks now, but time will tell if the problem was fixed.

I decided not to disassemble the oil pump and check the clearances. If the car makes it to 315k miles I might just splurge and replace it when I do the timing belt again. A new one is around $200 from Honda.

I did have a little trouble getting the crankshaft sprocket off. It did not just come off by hand. I gave it a few light taps with a small hammer, and used a small drift to gently tap the woodruff key. Then I used a pair of flat screwdrivers to get behind it and gently wiggle it until it loosened. I could see how this job could turn into a nightmare if the sprocket was stuck.

My crankshaft bolt was tough to get off too. When I did the last timing belt job in 2019 it came off with my impact. Not this time. I had to put a breaker bar on it and really twist. It made a few "crack" sounds then it let go. I'm not sure why it was so tough this time (yes, I used a torque wrench to tighten it to 130 lb-ft).

Fingers crossed that the oil stays on the inside for a while