17 replies to this topic

[OldSkoolEX]

i noticed when i got the car there was a teeny bit of oil that looked like it was either spilled or was leaking a little out of the head gasket. when i drive the car, get it warmed up and then stop a little smoke will come rom the front of the engine bay. this is just oil on the exhaust manifold evaporating but im wondering if the cause of this oil on the manifold could possibly be a shot headgasket.

any diy methods of checking to see if if the gaskets bad? im gonna wipe all the oil off the manifold and see if after a while more oil appears there or not.

the reason im saying it could be a spill is that there was some oil below the oil cap which looks like i could have been spilled when someone put more oil in it. theres no white or blue smoke coming off the exhaust so im not sure if it is the gasket or a spill.

the cars only got 35,8XX miles on it, how well do the head gaskets on the carbed 1.5 12v hold up?

[E-AT_me]

are you sure itsn' not just your valve cover gasket? because unless you're dripping on the downpipe, it's your valve cover gasket.. not big.. head gasket.. big..

[OldSkoolEX]

shit.... thats what i meant. lol

dont mind me.. weve already started drinking lol its only 2:30pm here but we celebrate everything like crazy people.

while im semi-on topic, i dunno when the oil was last changed so im thinking of changing the oil soon. any specific stuff the engines like? if not ill probably chuck in some castrol gtx magnatec, worked fine in my other car.

Edited by OldSkoolEX, 31 October 2003 - 09:39 AM.

[LEW]

it's temp based, in the summer i run 20-50 or 20-40 with temps from (55-100) most days in the 90's. now the mornings are getting alittle cool for 20-50 so i'm thinking 10-40 or 10-30 for the cooler months (note, here it rarely goes below 0f) i don't use 5-30, maybe you guys in the great white north do, but that's too thin for here.

it's in the fsm

while your buying oil, does the tranny need changed too? no synth in the tranny says honda, do so as you please. i use valvaline high milage stuff for the tranny and mobil one synth in the motor

[LEW]

oh, yea... don't be a dumbass and over tighten to seal the leak. the nut bottoms out and snaps the vc bolt.

i did it with out thinking..... but am swearing it was already weak..lol

[nivek2002]

i too had a Valve Cover oil leak problem. I got an Si valve cover from the junkyard, a new Fel-Pro gasket and tons of gasket sealer and now it leaks nothing and doesnt smoke. Very simple job! Good Luck

[Chris_12v]

Hi first time member and poster.

Check:
*Fuel pump and base
*Valve Cover - for sure
*Distributor oil seal - [where the distributor slides into the distributor/fuel pump housing.
***Distributor/Fuel pump housing seal. This one can cause an oil leak that will look just like a head gasket leak. Verry tricky, almost had me pulling the head off of my 87 D13A2 that had 160,000 miles on it. I cleaned up the area, drove the car and experienced the same small amount of oil burning on the exhaust that you explained. When I tried to trace it, the leak always formed a small puddle between the head and the block on the corner of #4 cyllinder. It was only a $3 fix for the new seal......

Hope this helps,
Chris

[Davidov]

Welcome aboard Chris!

Let me just concur that it is your Valve Cover Gasket.
It's easy and cheap to do, and solves that embarassing smoke that comes up from the front of the hood.

[Zach_Just]

Also a first time member and poster.

I just got a 1986 civic 1500s and the same thing happened.
The valve gaskets for this car up here in the great white north are about $55 can, that’s $73 us. So, I got some of that amazing Blue Crap (gasket maker) for about $3.
I cleaned the old gasket and put a bead of Blue Crap on there and I have had not trouble since!

"Keep on truckin"

Zach

[DarkHand]

Not to steal the thread or anything, but I'll be swapping the head of my 86 Civic with a spare one soon due to a broken timing belt, and hopefully fixing my oil leak in the process as well.

Oil leaks on the drivers side of the engine, only when the car is running. There was a LOT of splattered oil on the underside of the timing belt cover, which is why I think the belt broke in the first place. I'm thinking it's the cam seal on that side, or possibly the crank seal?

[Chris_12v]

Just a guess, but to me it sounds like the cam seal. It couldn't hurt to replace the crank and cam seal while you're in there though. Keep us updated.

Chris

Edited by Chris_12v, 13 November 2003 - 01:13 PM.

[OldSkoolEX]

its leaking on the side the oil cap is. not a huge leak or anything so should be a quick fix.

now something else.. theres a leak somewhere, could be the gasket but i doubt it because that teeny leak would leave a small puddle of oil on the ground, gonna have to check the tranny and under the engine cause i cant see any other leaks looking at the top side of he engine and tranny.

[Davidov]

Could be the oil pan gasket. Also an easy fix.
Just drain the oil, remove the down pipe, remove oil pan, replace with a new gasket (it's better to use a typical rubber gasket than liquid gasket maker), installation is the reverse of removal.

You need about 500 gallongs of Liquid Wrench rust penetrator type stuff, and a good breaker bar for the exhaust mounting bolts.

Me and nivek did this in about 3-4 hours taking it easy, and with a lunch break in the middle.

[OldSkoolEX]

feel like flying over here and helpin me? lol

500 gallons? dont get that part.. what the bolts on the downpipe will be rusted? nothing some wd-40 and a pair of big ass vice-grips cant do

[nivek2002]

Yeah, Liquid Wrench is better than WD-40 in this case. Those exahaust bolts were a pain in the butt - i think we killed a socket with our air gun on one - just lube stuff up, take it slow, and think. Once you get to the pan, its just a time consuming process of getting all the bolts off (they come off easy). Good luck hope you get it sorted out

Kevin