Thanks xviper, I will try that out tonight. There is no teflon tape/goo that saw on the fittings, and they were always saturated with oil. That was the first assumption I had.

 

My bet would be that its either spraying or tracking from the VTEC solenoid or the oil feed fitting into the block.

Its amazing where the oil will "appear" to be coming from.

On mine I had quite a bit of oil from one of the allen plugs on the S/C body itself and it took me a while to find it.

Run the car and spend a good 15 mins looking all round it, and maybe even get under the car - with a good torch. You should be able to see any oil "glimmer" with a torch.

The oil return goes above the oil level in the sump and has little pressure in the pipe, so I would be more surprised if it came from there.

Hopefully nobody has pierced the block with one of the bolts though, its easily done on an ally block. The only points that connect to the block are the 2 long extended threaed bolts, the idler pulley, which has an extended length bolt, and the main pulley.

MB

 

If the bolt through the idler pulley peirced the block (it was 5mm longer, but with a couple washers as spacers), would I be able to take the bolt out and see oil seeping out? Is the oil level that high when the engine is off? I dont want to run the engine without that bolt in.

 

I know that if you try and fit the new bolt with no washers at all, you can screw it in and it will touch the block with a few threads remaining. Its also part of the install thats not written correctly in the Vortech manual. You dont use the dust shield but you need to use the bearing and washer to space the bolt properly. XViper tipped me off on this one and may be able to correct anything above, as its months since I took my S/C off.

Pretty sure it will be higher than the oil level from memory. The oil level sits just below the return line fitting.

MB

 

You could take the bolt out and see if you can look into the hole.

I would have a look for other leak points too though.

MB

 

Moving to the FI forum

 

Ok I ruled out the bottom oil tap (thanks to xvipers idea), and the seal of the oil pan because I saw the stream of oil coming from the front of the block and then along the seal. I think I have ruled out the vtec solenoid, because from every angle and by rubbing a cloth all the round it looks clean.

I cannot get a good look at the idler pulley, but from every angle that I can see with a good flashlight, I cannot see any oil coming from it. But I cannot rule it out because some views are too obstructed. I still dont know how he saw the leak coming from there.

I cannot rule out the oil return line from the SC back to the block. I can see a portion of the top of it, and it looks clean but I cannot see the bottom. BUt the stream appears to be coming from that general area.

It travels down the center/passenger side of the block, then travels along the passenger side oil pan seal, then spreads underneath. I saw it by revving the car while looking down between the pulleys from the passenger side. But I could not see the origin because the SC and its brackets. It took a few minutes of 5-7K revving before the stream appeared, then when the car idled for a while the stream dissipated and stopped flowing.

From underneath, I took off one of the plastic protectors and got a little better look at the front of the block, and could see the flow pattern, but again I could not see the origin.

What should I do now?

Does anybody think this is SC install related? That is important because that is what will determine if I have to pay to get it fixed or not. Is there anyway to determine it besides the fact I had no leak when I dropped off the car, and then had a leak when I brought it home without driving hard (not even running boost).

 

Having to rev it to get it to spew out indicates it's a high pressure oil source. The oil return is large and is not very high pressure. Concentrate on where the oil comes from and where it goes to. IE, start at the oil tap where the oil pressure sender is, then follow the steel braided oil line to the blower, then check the blower to see if the supercharger bearing housing or pulley mainshaft is leaking (this is where one other recent poster had a problem). Once it gets to the return fitting on the blower, the oil enters a much larger pipe and the pressure should be low by that time.

 

So the oil is coming down the line toward the pan? Tie a white rag around the braided line as far up from the pan as you can get it and then rev it up until you think the leak has started.

Then pull the rag off and see if it's running down the line or coming from the tap itself.

I need to familiarize myself with the Vortech kit a little... I'll look at the install docs.

 

From a quick scan of the install doc, the only items I can see that would be the source of the leak are:

Front corner cylinder head screws
New VTEC solenoid assembly plate
BSP adapter on pressure sending unit
Idler pulley
Oil pan
Oil pan tap
Steel braided line

Or, your oil filter since you had to change your oil for the install.