D-series oil leak problem

G0VTCH33ZE · Post by **G0VTCH33ZE** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:12 pm

My car has just randomly decided to start leaking oil from several locations, it was coming from under the dizzy. So naturally I replaced the o-ring, still leaking. Saw some was coming from the v/c gasket, replaced it, hondabonded the corners, still leaking. Took the dizzy back out, hondabonded around the o-ring & base, still leaking, all this has greatly reduced the leaking. It also isn't coming from through the dizzy, checked that, now I fear that it's the head gasket, seeing as all oil has leaked onto the front of the block/top of the trans, & there's an oil passage in that corner of the block(no coolant loss though). From what I can tell, it looks like it's coming from in between the head/block, behind the manifold, & making it's way over the ID tag. If anyone knows of a different possible orifice that it could be coming from, please feel free to chime in. I'd really hate to do another h/g only to find out it wasn't the culprit. I did mini-me swap it (b7/z6) about a couple months ago, no problems until now.

Thank you!

rickles8099 · Post by **rickles8099** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:23 pm

side of the head is wet so i would assume that the its leaking down and not up. hows the valve cover gasket doing?

MaSSaCrE · Post by **MaSSaCrE** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:47 pm

rickles8099;280041 wrote:side of the head is wet so i would assume that the its leaking down and not up. hows the valve cover gasket doing?

my z6 is leaking just like this after doing a my valve cover swap with new gasket. Ive double checked it and tightened it good. Mines coming out everywhere around valve cover\gasket. Not to highjack the thread or anything.

Im gonna end up changing for a diff valve cover gasket as i guess my new ones shitty

G0VTCH33ZE · Post by **G0VTCH33ZE** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:18 pm

rickles8099;280041 wrote:side of the head is wet so i would assume that the its leaking down and not up. hows the valve cover gasket doing?

V/c gasket is new & no wetness in between the v/c & head. That is just some gook left over from the prior v/c gasket leak.

rickles8099 · Post by **rickles8099** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:23 pm

well there is an oil return port right inside there. theres a possiblity that it could be leaking.

top left side of the bottom of the head is the oil port im talking about:

G0VTCH33ZE · Post by **G0VTCH33ZE** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:09 pm

rickles8099;280049 wrote:well there is an oil return port right inside there. theres a possiblity that it could be leaking.

top left side of the bottom of the head is the oil port im talking about:

Yea, that's what I'm thinking too. I'll have to pull the v/c & double check my torque on the head bolts. I torqued them to 50ftlbs originally.

Thanks man for the insight.

JustRob · Post by **JustRob** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:13 pm

The easiest way to find the leak is to clean the entire engine and use a powdered leak detector like Met-L-Chek in the suspected areas. I doubt this is the issue but did you remove the oil control orifice from the engine block when you did the swap? Never use liquid gasket on the distributor o-ring or the VTEC solenoid gasket. That is going to make it difficult if the gasket needs to be changed again and can cause engine damage or make the leak worse. The only gasket on the cylinder head that requires a liquid gasket for sealing is the valve cover gasket at each of the 90* corners on each end. And the cylinder head should be torqued in the proper order in two steps. First at 22lb-ft, and finally at 53lb-ft. Clean oil should be applied to the threads and washer contact surface of the head bolts.

ymisoqt · Post by **ymisoqt** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:56 pm

JustRob;280070 wrote:Never use liquid gasket on the distributor o-ring or the VTEC solenoid gasket. That is going to make it difficult if the gasket needs to be changed again and can cause engine damage or make the leak worse.

lmao. spoon integra

:cookoo:

G0VTCH33ZE · Post by **G0VTCH33ZE** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:56 pm

JustRob;280070 wrote:The easiest way to find the leak is to clean the entire engine and use a powdered leak detector like Met-L-Chek in the suspected areas. I doubt this is the issue but did you remove the oil control orifice from the engine block when you did the swap? Never use liquid gasket on the distributor o-ring or the VTEC solenoid gasket. That is going to make it difficult if the gasket needs to be changed again and can cause engine damage or make the leak worse. The only gasket on the cylinder head that requires a liquid gasket for sealing is the valve cover gasket at each of the 90* corners on each end. And the cylinder head should be torqued in the proper order in two steps. First at 22lb-ft, and finally at 53lb-ft. Clean oil should be applied to the threads and washer contact surface of the head bolts.

I did the torque sequence correctly when replacing the head. I bought the dizzy o-ring from Honda, lubed it up etc., still leaked. I'll try some sort of leak detector, just trying to avoid putting anymore time/money into fixing this, if it was something simple I overlooked.

G0VTCH33ZE · Post by **G0VTCH33ZE** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:02 pm

Well it's the vtec solenoid gasket, oddly enough it wasn't dripping straight down the back of the block. I figured this out after driving to Nevada, MO for thanksgiving, instead of the usual stop & go traffic, which would give it the momentum to move to the front. It seeps out of the bottom of the solenoid, then follows the space between the head & block, around to the front of the motor. Then it drips down from under the exhaust manifold onto the ID tag, giving the appearance of coming from the h/g.....god damn fuck me runnin', glad that's over with.

Thanks guys!