civic vx - source of oil leak near distributor?

[dlb]

when we first got my wife's civic vx, i noticed lots of oil seapage from around the distributor. i replaced the o-ring on it but it didn't slow the seapage at all. i'm wondering if there's anything else around that area that might be the source, or if the o-ring honda sold me was just a bad one.

i saw someone once mention an oil seal for the v-tec solenoid so i'm curious where that is located on the engine.

i should also note that i replaced the valve cover gasket due to seapage from it and all is well with it.

[some_other_dave]

I recall the valve cover for my 1990 Honda went up and around the distributor driveshaft. When I figured I knew better than the Honda engineers and left out the sealant in the corners where the gasket turned to go around that, it started leaking at that spot. After that, I always used the sealant where they said to use it. (And it didn't leak from there again.)

-soD

[dlb]

still dealing with this. it appeared the new distributor o-ring i installed was leaking so i bought another one from honda, threw it in, and it still leaks. the inner diameter of the new o-rings seems good, but they seem to slide into the head too easily--in my experience, i have found a new dizzy o-ring creates just a slight drag when installing the dizzy into the head, which i am not noticing here. so i'm going to try to find an o-ring with a slightly larger outer diameter and see if that helps.

this seems like a really odd problem though. there is no scoring in the head or on the dizzy where the o-ring sits, and the engine is all stock VX, so i don't know why the correct o-ring (i've triple checked the part #) would leak.

[E-money]

A common oil leak for the older Civics is the rubber in the distributor. I know your taking about the shaft that slides into the valve train. But if you take off the distributor and tear into it, there is a rubber seal at the bottom that bakes on there. All those distributors are the TD41U? So might be better off buying a new one.

[cbaber]

You are replacing #6 right?



I don't know about the 92-95 Civics, but 96-00 Civics came with different distributors even on the same year and trim. Maybe a previous owner changed the distributor and the o-ring is slightly off? Just an idea.

Are you sure its coming from the o-ring? The honda service manual asks you to put some hondabond or RTV sealant near where the distributor goes into the head. I would make sure to get a new valve cover gasket and apply the sealant to the areas described in the service manual.

[dlb]

e-money, this leak is between the dizzy housing and the head. i think that if it were some seal inside the dizzy that was leaking, it would leak oil into the dizzy and then drip out between the cap and housing. this doesn't appear to be the case but i will remove the cap and check.

cbaber, yup: #6 is the o-ring i've replaced twice now. i already replaced the VC gasket and used silicone sealant in the 45* (ish) corners. no change in the leak. i've wondered about the possibility of the wrong dizzy as well but if that were the case, i think these o-rings would fit the head (since the head and o-ring are verified as being stock) but would be loose on the dizzy. i'll check some part #s anyway to rule the incorrect dizzy out though.

thanks for the ideas!

[tvbd56]

Did you know that there is two o-rings in the distributor? There's an inner and an outer seal. I replaced both of mine and there was no oil leak. I'm not sure if it's different on your year of civic compared to mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKESgHg-yD8

[dlb]

thanks for the vid, tvbd56. it mentioned near the start that some honda dizzy caps have a drain hole on them, while other dizzy's have the drain hole on the aluminum housing. with this in mind, i removed the dizzy cap and found no drain so i'm guessing the VX dizzy has a housing drain which could be consistent with the leak i have.

however, i called honda and asked about an internal oil seal and they said they have nothing for it. so i'm wondering if any other VX owners can confirm that these dizzys do in fact have an internal oil seal, and if anyone has replaced it, do they have a part # they could share with me?

many thanks.

[Mista Bone]

Honda wants you to replace the whole distributor.

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Mista Bone

Honda wants you to replace the whole distributor.

+1, probably not serviced except as a replacement distrubutor assembly.

regards
Mech