So Pissed

So I went out to check my oil the other day and found it empty (I generally check every week). Pretty upsetting. So I dumped in the two quarts of synthetic oil that I had on hand and resolved to pick up more the next day. Next day, I left for work and got a call from my dad about oil being all over the driveway. Once I got back from work, I looked under my car and saw my precious synthetic oil spilling onto the ground while my car was idling. I'm dumping the car off at Honda tonight so that they can locate and fix the problem. The drip seems to be coming from behind the engine but I didn't really examine it in detail. I also had smoke around the intake manifold when I opened my hood after driving. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

I had the same thing happen to me although it was a different car. What I found was a cracked oil sending unit. my engine had thrown a rod. I bought another car and used the block and crank and rebuilt my engine. when I started it she ran good for about 5 minutes then the leak came back, talk about pissed!! then I figured out one thing I had not swapped or bought new was the oil sending unit. $1.55 and the leak stopped.

I had the same thing happen to me although it was a different car. What I found was a cracked oil sending unit. my engine had thrown a rod. I bought another car and used the block and crank and rebuilt my engine. when I started it she ran good for about 5 minutes then the leak came back, talk about pissed!! then I figured out one thing I had not swapped or bought new was the oil sending unit. $1.55 and the leak stopped.

I really hope it is not something that involved. I can't afford engine rebuilds and that sort of stuff. I'll have to go into debt and do a H22 swap...hehe. I should probably also mention that the car is running fine except for the constant dripping beneath the car.

didnt you say you had a tranny problem too?

didnt you say you had a tranny problem too?

I see where you are going with that. I really would want to avoid doing a swap. I just want a car that zips along. I don't want to drag race or do anything like that. Plus, my engine only has 90k on it. It should last me for quite awhile longer.

no, i was just sayin that cause u said besides the oil drip the car was running fine ... i got a 97 lude auto, same color as urs, hopin the tranny doesnt give me problems ... if it keeps givin u problems, i would fix it up and sell it, is it the VTEC?

the most common place for oil to leak (in abundance) like that is from the oil cooler o-ring, - the oil cooler is located beneath the oil Filter (yah! on the back side of the engine), and it has a single o-ring to keep things sealed when mounted to the block. With age that o-ring has a tendency to fail - especially when it's cold out, and it can dump a lot of oil in a very short amount of time. it's a fairly cheap easy replacement - the o-ring is like 3 bux, and it just takes a 32mm socket and some ommph to remove the fitting that the oil filter screws onto.

I'm telling you all this - so that if the shop does tell you that they replaced the oil cooler o-ring - that you understand it's not a crazy hard job to do - so don't pay a shop a lot of money for it... (i would think 50 bux would be fair and that's CAN) it's only slightly trickier than changing your oil filter (:

changine that o-ring is also on my "to do" list - but i'm waiting for my next oil change (: - I already possess the o-ring... OoOoO.
best of luck.

the most common place for oil to leak (in abundance) like that is from the oil cooler o-ring, - the oil cooler is located beneath the oil Filter (yah! on the back side of the engine), and it has a single o-ring to keep things sealed when mounted to the block. With age that o-ring has a tendency to fail - especially when it's cold out, and it can dump a lot of oil in a very short amount of time. it's a fairly cheap easy replacement - the o-ring is like 3 bux, and it just takes a 32mm socket and some ommph to remove the fitting that the oil filter screws onto.

I'm telling you all this - so that if the shop does tell you that they replaced the oil cooler o-ring - that you understand it's not a crazy hard job to do - so don't pay a shop a lot of money for it... (i would think 50 bux would be fair and that's CAN) it's only slightly trickier than changing your oil filter (:

changine that o-ring is also on my "to do" list - but i'm waiting for my next oil change (: - I already possess the o-ring... OoOoO.
best of luck.

I really really hope it is this o-ring that you mentioned. My dad thought it might be the ?rear main seal? He said that they would have to take out the tranny, axles, and other crap to change it. Crazy labor costs. Thanks for giving me hope that it is not a major problem.

no, i was just sayin that cause u said besides the oil drip the car was running fine ... i got a 97 lude auto, same color as urs, hopin the tranny doesnt give me problems ... if it keeps givin u problems, i would fix it up and sell it, is it the VTEC?

My car is only the Si so I don't have Vtec. The fifth gens are notorious for having auto trans problems though so I would be very diligent with checking the fluid levels. I only got the car last summer and I have plans for it so I can't even begin to think of selling it.

It seems my drama has come to an end. The oil cooler seal was leaking and it is gonna run me about $190. Thank God, it wasn't the rear main seal. Anyway, thanks goes out to everyone who posted.

It seems my drama has come to an end. The oil cooler seal was leaking and it is gonna run me about $190. Thank God, it wasn't the rear main seal. Anyway, thanks goes out to everyone who posted.


hold the phone!!! 190 bux !!! you are getting robbed blind man. i'm telling you when you have the filter off your car - the job is 1/2 DONE. all you have to do is remove the fitting that the filter screws onto with a 32mm socket, pull the oil cooler out of the way (while it's still attached to the coolant lines) and replace the seal... it's not hard at all. the "seal" is a just an o-ring that costs 3 dollars and that's CAN, this job should cost only a fraction more than getting your filter changed. PRINT THIS OUT and show it to the RIP OFF SHOP you're dealing with.

in any shop with a lift, the job - including draining all the oil, and refilling would/should take just shy of 30 mins and that's with a daft apprentice mechanic working on it. ask for hourly rate, and make sure you get the price of the part.

demand to pay less.

hold the phone!!! 190 bux !!! you are getting robbed blind man. i'm telling you when you have the filter off your car - the job is 1/2 DONE. all you have to do is remove the fitting that the filter screws onto with a 32mm socket, pull the oil cooler out of the way (while it's still attached to the coolant lines) and replace the seal... it's not hard at all. the "seal" is a just an o-ring that costs 3 dollars and that's CAN, this job should cost only a fraction more than getting your filter changed. PRINT THIS OUT and show it to the RIP OFF SHOP you're dealing with.

in any shop with a lift, the job - including draining all the oil, and refilling would/should take just shy of 30 mins and that's with a daft apprentice mechanic working on it. ask for hourly rate, and make sure you get the price of the part.

demand to pay less.

I guess I got robbed then. I already payed and everything before I read this. Costs were as follows: Labor 170, Parts 15, and tax...I guess I will just have to take this as a lesson that I should not go to the dealership to get work done. I feel kinda stupid. I only remembered "o-ring" from your post so I didn't connect it with oil cooler seal when I talked to the guy on the phone. I've really been stressed about this, so my memory is shot. Oh well. Thanks for your concern though.

I guess I got robbed then. I already payed and everything before I read this. Costs were as follows: Labor 170, Parts 15, and tax...I guess I will just have to take this as a lesson that I should not go to the dealership to get work done. I feel kinda stupid. Oh well. Thanks for your concern though.

man... I dunno that's shitty I was really hoping they would have your car overnight or something and you wouldn't have paid yet.

anyways - i'm sure this isn't going to make it any easier on ya - but this is all they did

http://www3.telus.net/abode/oilcooler.gif

this is one of the primary reasons i hate dealing with shops... I don't trust my car to anyone anymore.

labour? 170? shop labour costs are usually 40 buck an hour or something (i would think) that means they worked on your car for over 4 hours! I wonder if they know righty tighty lefty loosey? did it take them 4 hours to figure out the fitting loosens only when you turn it counter clockwise? you got ripped real bad. I would still go back and show them this correspondance. (with the pic!) and demand some money BACK. threaten them with BBB do whateva.

man... I dunno that's shitty I was really hoping they would have your car overnight or something and you wouldn't have paid yet.

anyways - i'm sure this isn't going to make it any easier on ya - but this is all they did

http://www3.telus.net/abode/oilcooler.gif

this is one of the primary reasons i hate dealing with shops... I don't trust my car to anyone anymore.

labour? 170? what they payed one apprentice 10 bux an hour, shop labour costs are usually 40 buck an hour or something (i would think) that means they worked on your car for over 4 hours! I wonder if they know righty tighty lefty loosey? did it take them 4 hours to figure out the fitting loosens only when you turn it counter clockwise? you got ripped real bad. I would still go back and show them this correspondance. (with the pic!) and demand some money BACK. threaten them with BBB do whateva.

I will definitely give my "good buddy" Rich over at Honda a call tomorrow and find out why I paid so much money for such a simple repair.

I went back and asked what the deal was with the huge labor cost. Turns out that mechanics make $85 an hour up here. Two hours of work equals my over the top labor costs. Such bs. Hopefully, tax money will soon be coming my way to make up for this.

thats not a 2 hour job anyways though ... but u learned and thats what matters in the long run ... next time ask around before going with the 1st person ... also try finding a good honda mechanic at a private shop, usually labor is no more than 60 per hour