sup guys, noob here. i just bought a 92 civic, 1.5L with 141k miles. it runs and shifts pretty good, but when i got it i noticed a small oil leak, not leaking everywhere but smoked a little. i changed the distributor o ring and it seems to stopped leakin on that side, and i also changed the valve cover gasket just for good measure. but i notice the smoke is coming through the intake manifold pipes (?). it seems its coming from under or around them. i also noticed the bottom of the oil pan has oil or something all over it. it could be from the rack and pinion leaking, because it is leaking. but most of the oil that is on the motor is on the very bottom, could it be the oil pan gasket? any ideas? thanks in advance!

 

Well, if the distributor O-ring was leaking, it wouldn't be strange for it to drip down all the way to the oil pan. The smoke could be from the residue from the leak you used to have burning up. Is your VTEC solenoid leaking too?... it is a common problem for civics this age.


You should clean out your engine bay with some engine degreaser. Make sure you cover electrical connections with saran wrap or something. Spray the engine down, let it sit for like 5 minutes, and hose it all off. With a clean engine bay you should now be able to easily pinpoint any leaks.

 

oh i forgot to mention it is not a vtec (that i know of), at least i dont see it anywhere where it would say vtec. i already sprayed degreaser on it, but that didnt do much. so i sprayed brake cleaner on it and that worked a lot better. when i first got it, it was smoking right under the distributor, on the left side of the motor. not its not, so i assume i fixed that part of the leak.

 

in my first post, i said intake manifold pipes, but its coming from below the headers, or really through the headers. so i took off of the shield but i really dont see any oil anywhere, thats why im guessing its coming from below?

 

no, you have VTEC.
you have '92 with a 1.6L engine. The only 1.6L engine available with the 92-95 civic was the D16Z6. The D16Z6 has VTEC, and that is what engine you have.

this picture shows the VTEC solenoid. Yours might not be green. https://www.hondacivicforum.com/phot...?file=0;371968

 

i think its a 1.5 now that you showed me that. my hood says 1.6, but its a different hood because the underside is white and my car is green. [&:] that hood definitely isnt original, and i dont see that solenoid.

 

anyone else think its the oil pan gasket?

 

Raise front end on stands and inspect lower section of engine for oil leaks.

If necessary, remove exhaust pipe A (see below; circled in red) and thoroughly clean lower engine (as suggested by trustdestruction). Drive car and then later raise front end again to locate source of freshly leaked oil. If you believe oil is leaking from top of oil pan, first simply try to tighten oil pan nuts and bolts to the torque specified in manual. This might fix or substantially lessen the leak. If not, replace the oil pan gasket.

Also keep in mind that oil could be leaking from the front or rear main seals. A bad front main seal would leak oil from below the timing belt cover whereas a bad rear main seal would leak oil from the weep hole located at the junction between the engine and transmission.

 

well i sprayed a lot of brake cleaner on the underside of my motor because thats where the leak seems to be from. the most build up seems to be around the oil pan bolts, it seems really gunky and built up there the most. there is oil on the pan, and i also seen a drip coming off the oil pan bolt plug. could it still be the rear main seal? ill try and get a picture after running it a little more so the leak can come back out and i can maybe see exactly where its coming from

 

i just drove it around the block and it was smoking again, i jacked it up and i seen the smoke coming off the exhaust pipe, so i waited for it to quit and i got a close look and i noticed there was one bolt on the oil pan that was dripping. i dried it off and about 2 min later i seen another oil drip about to drip off the same bolt...im hoping this is gonna be an easy fix. im sure i can change the oil pan gasket but as far as main seals i can not do those.