I've been trying to figure out whether the oil leak is coming from the oil pan or the distributor, I degreased everything and I looked this morning and looks like oil is coming from the base of the distributor and leaking down to the bottom of the engine onto the exhaust and burning.....gotta love the the smell of burned oil....

At any rate, I went online trying to figure out what or where to find the gasket or I'd imagine it's an Oring......does anyone know the correct nomenclature for that piece so I can search it and buy it?

 

Is it coming out of the corners of the valve cover? (and by corners I mean the ends of the half-circle that covers the distributer shaft.) That seems to be a fairly common problem with D-series' of that year.

 

get a new valve cover gasket and and before you install it put a dab of rtv every where the cam bearing meets the head on both ends.

 

I had the valve cover gasket replaced when I had the Timing belt replaced, and it was doing this before the timing belt replacement. I'll take some pics to see if you guys can decipher whether it is the dizzy o ring or the valve cover gasket.

 

Just go to your local dealer if you have one. The distributor seal ring is about $3.00 even after dealer's huge markup. That is probably less than the shipping you'd pay buying it online.

 

As mk says, get a distributor O-ring from the Honda dealer.

 

I just put on a distributor O Ring to address this very problem on the 1.6liter that is awaiting transplant (my trusty 1.5 was wrecked new year's eve). It did not fix the problem. That is not saying that yours will not be fixed, and as others have said it is ~ 3.00 and takes 15 min. to change. Mark your distributor position to the base with a "Sharpie" and you won't even have to time it. As another poster said the RTV on the sealing points is important. If your timing belt change was not done by reputable/experienced/conscientious/dealer type tech they missed the application of the RTV would be my guess, or they didn't do the cam/crank seals while they were in there, or, the valve cover hold down bolts aren't sealing well, etc. I just tried the distributor O ring hoping for a 15 minute fix....no joy.

Good luck,

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx

 

btw, please post the definitive fix when you find it. I don't want to spend time/money on this 1.6, but if quick/cheap enough I will because the oil piddling/smell is embarrasing...

 

Ed, maybe yours is leaking from the VTEC solenoid valve? There's oil under pressure in there. To find oil leaks need to be patient, clean all the oil off thoroughly, then watch carefully for the first place it reappears.

 

MK, thanks for the tip. I'll do a little searching and see if I can see the location of that vtec valve. I did clean the engine and saw immediate oil on the left side of the engine when facing the car. It looked like it was probably coming from the distributor. Actually, I think the O ring may have slowed that down, but I can still get significant drips and smells. I will look at the vtec valve, actually I didn't even know that I had one, thank you again.

Ed