bgioan

TL;DR: There is an oil leak coming from my car that is even bigger than the initial one when I made the following new changes: Valve Cover Gasket, VTEC solenoid upper & main gaskets, oil filter & literal oil change only in brand (same initial weights 10W-30) from Castrol Edge to Royal Purple. I have cleaned my engine a bit to get a feel for the oil leak and have been tracking it over the past 2 days. I am leaking more than before, MUCH more. Most of the leak appears to be coming simply from the oil pan itself....


Now if you would like to take time out of your day and read about this issue and help me out, I would really appreciate it because this has me so confused. My car is an 2003 AP1. I installed a brand new (0 miles) 2007 OEM short block with a head with 37k miles. I had my cylinder head hot tanked, polished the camshafts along with new retainers. Have put about 11k miles on the new engine so far and it has been running absolutely superb. When I first put together the engine I had a small oil leak, I am talking about maybe 1/8th of a quart over 3/4 weeks. I have been trying to isolate my issue so that there is no oil leak. I used a UV dye and a UV light to track leak and noticed it from the REAR passenger side of the valve cover, hence why I got a new valve cover gasket after 11k miles. However after all this I have been getting a massive oil leak, we are talking about a puddle with a diameter of 6/7 inches with some gaps here and there of course. I recently bought a UV dye and a UV light to track the leak. But as of late all I am getting is UV lit oil coming out from the oil pan and only the rear passenger side of the valve cover??? (after a new one?). Now I have installed oil pans multiple times on these engines with 100% authentic Hondabond(nothing else) and no issues, so I am a bit befuddled at this point. I will upload some pictures a bit later but at this point I would really appreciate anyone to chime in with some help. The next step is to take off my oil pan and redo the Hondabond in hopes it works out.

Let me add then when I drive my car between 12-2pm and park it at work it leaks a lot. On the way home from work, approximately around 10-11pm once I get home I monitor the oil leak in the morning and it is SIGNIFICANTLY less, talking about maybe 2/3 inches in diameter. I live in Southern California so temperatures currently during the day are around 70-80F (24-27C) and at night they drop down to 37-45F (4-8C). I put in about 5.3 quarts and was just below the top of the oil dipstick X's and currently sitting right in the middle.

Not sure what is going on. I have a few hypotheses. One being perhaps the new oil, maybe a BIT thinner along with me adding A LOT of oil, or maybe even too much and it is seeping out through cracks and crevices I was previously unaware of. Mind you I took my car to Ballade Sports in Garden Grove for a diagnostic of the oil leak after I had them work on my car to fix my initial oil leak! The first time I paid $800 to fix said oil leak, got the car back and noticed after a month or two that it was still leaking. Took it back again, they made me pay for a diagnostic AGAIN(honestly ridiculous after spending $800+ at this shop) and they let me know it was my time chain tensioner gasket..... -.- No. It wasn't. Why? Well because no oil was not coming from there and there is no oil coming from there currently. Second is that the Hondabond on the oil pan wore out over time because the block was sitting in a warehouse from date of manufacturer (2007 until 2016).

After putting in the UV dye all I see when I illuminate my block with the UV light is that there is a small amount of light coming from the passenger's side of the block right under the valve cover gasket, after installing a new gasket AND a bunch of illumination occurring right around the oil pan, NOTHING from the girdle! (Why is there even a girdle in this block? Well because it revs to so high that with the caps tied together the force can be distributed over more mass, which lessens the effect of said force. It's an alternative to stepping up to stronger rod bolts and/or even forged rods. Think of it as a strut bar for the main caps. __) Anyways there is no UV dye coming from my girdle, oil filter, VTEC solenoid, timing chain tensioner or timing chain cover. I will upload some pictures tomorrow but they are unfortunately a bit unclear. If someone can either lead me to a solution or helping me out nearby I do not mind helping you out for your time. This is a headache I really want to fix because the end goal is to pass this amazing car on to my younger brother and I want all mechanical components to be 100% sound, even though the exterior of my car is horrible .

Slowcrash_101

You may have a rear main seal leak. People pick an oil brand and stick to it!

rpg51

This is what occured to me as well. But, it sounds like some oil is leaking from the valve cover which wouldn't be the rear main seal.

What a pain.

bgioan

Now as far as having a rear main seal leak, I highly doubt it considering the oil is dripping from around the front of the oil pan so from the drain bolt all along it until it begins to rise where it mates the transmission block. The leaks form near the front half of the motor.

Yes people do pick an oil brand and stick to it, so should I dumb out all of this RP and go back to Castrol Edge? And I don't change my oil brands left and right. This is the first time I've ever changed my oil brand on this engine, perhaps almost all engines Ive dealt with before as well.
The leak from the rear valve cover gasket is much smaller, but still there...

Honestly the only thing I am thinking of is that the RP oil is not viscous enough and being so thin it is seeping out.... When comparing to the Castrol EDGE I was using, theres a big difference to me in the texture and feel on my hands. Both the same weight but no laboratory equipment at my house to actually test this.

Slowcrash_101

Leave it in there, for your next oil change go back to Castrol. You already know about the VTEC solenoid leaks I'm guessing.

HarryD

Rear main seal leaks on s200s are... extremely rare, no?

bgioan

I figured out what it was. After noticing the oil leaking from just the oil pan, I took a closer look at my bolts and noticed a GAP!!! I cannot believe one of my bolts was so lose it could be finger tightened. Wow what a scary sight. Anyways I am going to attempt to remove the pan and get new Hondabond. I torqued it down per specifications of the Honda Service Manual but the last place that worked on it was guess who? Ballade. Because they had to remove my timing chain cover and to remove it you need to remove the oil pan. Extremely dissatisfied with this so called "SHOP" that cuts corners to make a good profit. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes rear main seal leaks are extremely rare. I will definitely be going back to Castrol GTX on the next one I think.

rpg51

Be sure they did not over torque and strip.

jyeung528

sorry to hear, that must be so frustrating.

cosmomiller

I seem to recall a warning by Billman on using gasket sealers on this engine. The reason is small pieces can circulate and screw up oil flow causing lubrication issues.

Anyone recall this? Hondabond okay?