Civic VX/Where's This Oil Coming From?

[Davo53209@yahoo.com]

Hello Everyone:

When I first bought my 94 Civic almost 3yrs. ago, I'd noticed that the passenger side portion of the engine was caked with grease and oil.

Since then, I'd cleaned the area, while noting that it wasn't much of a problem until recently, when I've starting driving more frequently to work on the freeway at 65mpg. What I'm noticing now, is that I'm filling up the crank case more frequently, whereas the area is accumulating more oil throughout the week.

My question to everyone is what sort of a seal is located to that side or near that portion of the engine, and will it potentially require a rebuild or a relatively simple replacement.

[Ryland]

I would guess the valve cover gasket, they age and shrink.
They should come with new seals for around the valve cover bolts too.

[Davo53209@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by Ryland

I would guess the valve cover gasket, they age and shrink.
They should come with new seals for around the valve cover bolts too.

I probably should have mentioned that I replaced the valve cover gasket and seals that following spring. I was fortunate enough to catch in time when I'd noticed that the spark plug wells were filled with oil. To add further, I used Honda bond in the process and torque down the bolts to 10/lbs.

No, I'm thinking that I may have another problem.

[Ryland]

I would still check the valve cover gasket.
I wasn't getting oil by the plugs, but mine wasn't seated and was leaking oil by the distributor.

[user removed]

Yep, distributor shaft seal or housing seal. Shaft seal means rebuilt distributor as seal is not serviceable.

regards
mech

[Ryland]

Tube of gasket rubber.
I've rebuilt motorcycle engines with gaskets that I couldn't buy, it can work better then new gaskets.
I'd use some on your valve cover too, we've had 4 vx's in the family, they all leak, it's a design flaw.

[user removed]

I used to have a sign posted right where the customer would look when they came in the front door.

"Tell me everything you know now. That way we can avoid the time and expense of you paying me to find out what you already know. I get the job done faster and you pay less for the repair and I can get more work done. It's even cheaper if you write it down before you even walk into the front door."

Saved a lot of time and the customer a good amount of money.

regards
mech

[Davo53209@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Yep, distributor shaft seal or housing seal. Shaft seal means rebuilt distributor as seal is not serviceable.

regards
mech

Hmm interesting. With that said Old Mechanic, I just found a thread on this forum called, "Civic vx - source of oil leak near distributor?" that was started by dlb back in 12-03-2013.

Would this mean that I would have to replace the entire distributor?

[iveyjh]

Check the vtec solenoid, it's in that area. I've had to replace the gasket(s), there are two, upper and lower.

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Davo53209@yahoo.com

Hmm interesting. With that said Old Mechanic, I just found a thread on this forum called, "Civic vx - source of oil leak near distributor?" that was started by dlb back in 12-03-2013.

Would this mean that I would have to replace the entire distributor?

Leaking inside the distributor means replacement, shaft bushings and seal wiped out, wobbling shaft.

0-ring between distributor assembly and cylinder head is replaceable.

regards
mech