bimmuvfab

I have a new one (to me). 2005 Civic EX, D17A2 automatic. I've been having a pesky engine oil leak that has been splattering oil everywhere, making it hard to diagnose.

I finally took a Saturday to clean the engine and put in some UV dye. Jacked up the car, put it in drive and found the leak. Oil is seeping out of the inboard boot on the driver side axle. The oil is coming out at the smaller end of the boot. No sign of oil on the larger end at the joint. The boot isn't torn or damaged as far as I can tell. It isn't tranny oil. I compared them both under UV light. Is there an oil path on the engine side that would allow oil to find its way into the joint/boot? I'm guessing I'll need to replace the drive axle but would like to know what I'm getting into.

Thoughts appreciated.

mac25

So the drivers side inner boot is leaking?

It plugs into the transmission but I don't think oil should be able to get into the boot.

Maybe oil from a rear main seal leak is dripping on the boot then being flung around?




Perhaps clean everything, wrap the boot in duct tape to make sure it is isolated then take er for a rip and see if the same oil pattern is replicated.

bimmuvfab

Thanks, Mac. I guess I need to get back under there and do some more searching. Yesterday, when the engine was clean and with the car jacked, secure, and idling in drive, I carefully took a rag and wiped the oil away from the small end of the boot and watched it come right back "out". Can't find anything dripping down onto it.

But you may be onto something with the rear main seal. I'll check it. Diagnosing is half the fun, right?

ezone

There is no way in hell engine oil can be getting inside the CV boot.
Nor trans fluid.
No way, no physical connection to the fluids.

The only thing the CV boot can leak is CV grease from inside the CV joint.

The engine oil leakage has to come from somewhere nearby and probably above the CV boot area....I'd guess the VTEC valve gaskets are leaking (2 rubber gaskets).
Then the cam plug, then valve cover gasket as the other usual oil leaks near the top rear of the engine.

bimmuvfab

Thanks for the suggestions, ezone. I've duct taped the boot and am doing a short drive to get more info later today. I did notice some oil very slowly seeping down around the shift cable cover under the torque converter.

bimmuvfab

Ran the car some last night. Didn't have time to jack it up but there is a good amount of oil leaking from above down the front of the engine where the bell housing and engine meet starting at the top of the engine/bell housing. I need to remove the resonator, etc. to get a better look but the valve cover gasket and cam seal don't show oil leaking there. There isn't any oil on that "shelf" by the EGR valve.

So if I'm getting oil there AND on the other side of the engine making its way to the inboard drivers boot does this mean the rear seal is a possibility? If it were the valve cover gasket of VTEC solenoid gasket, you would think it would stream down the back of the bell housing.

Colin42

You're getting oil on the tranny side and the belt side? Valve cover is probably a good place to start, ezone also said the vtec gaskets, but that would be more just the one side I would think.

ezone

Check the VTEC valve closely, it's on the back side of the head sort of above the axle area. If it's gaskets haven't already been replaced recently I'd expect that to be a prime suspect.
The VTEC valve has full oil system pressure behind it too.

If you think it's a rear main.....I'd evaluate just how much oil is leaking and ask if it's worth a whole bunch of work to pull the trans to replace it......unless there's some other reason the trans needs to come out. (6+ hours worth of labor dollars in a shop can buy a whole lot of oil)


You could clean everything spotless and perfectly dry (brake cleaner and air gun) and start over with the blacklight (inspect with blacklight for fluorescent highlights before you run the engine to make sure it's all cleaned off), or you could get it all clean and then coat everything in light colored powder such as bath talc, foot powder, spray powder like Right Guard or foot powder.... The powder should highlight any trails and make it easier to spot the source of the leakage, or at least narrow it to a specific area. Everything has to be very clean and very dry first as powder shows wet spots in a hurry.

bimmuvfab

It is actually running down the "front" facing the radiator at the tranny/block seam (right over the engine stamp. Plus it is on the throttle body side but I don't see anything running down the back of the block (yet). Still, the VTEC gaskets are a culprit for that side. It shows up quickest when I put it in drive and run at 2000-3000 rpm for a minute. The first symptom is the oil spinning around the end of the inboard driver's boot (quite a good bit). The second is a slow seep out where the torque converter case meets the block at the very bottom. This is seen after removing the shift cable covers. I've UV'd all around the valve cover gasket, except under the fuel rail, and haven't found anything. But the fact that it is coming from the top might bode well.

Car has 190K on it and I just changed the head gasket a couple of years ago.

Colin42

probably vtec gaskets then, maybe the cam seal on that side where the distributor went in on the older engines

ezone

190k, you have the bottom covers off the bellhousing? Look up at where the flexplate meets the crank with a good strong flashlight,

If the rear main is leaking it seems like oil should be flung outward by the spinning crank.....so look in there and see if the flex plate is wet on the crank side?



Also, some of the VTEC gaskets get replaced at less than 100k so the gaskets don't last forever. Especially if you aren't positive about replacing them some time ago.

emich

this can help: http://www.autozone.com/miscellaneou...mString=search

bimmuvfab

Just wanted to follow-up on this leak. It dumbfounded me because the amount of oil that would be on the engine (front and back) and dripping was quite a lot even after taking a short drive. I wanted to be sure before I started doing something major, so I was hoping to catch the leak in action with the dye. But in the end, I just took off the valve cover and accessed the VTEC solenoid to replace that seal first (along with the valve cover gasket). It DID turn out to be the VTEC solenoid but it may or may not have needed at new filter/seal.

As I was removing the solenoid, the last bolt I removed (lowest one) turned out to be loose. That explains the amount of oil and how the oil was making it's way onto the boot. Once the engine was up to driving speed the oil must have been squirting out quite a bit. I haven't touched the solenoid since I replaced the head gasket 2 years ago so this turned out to be a case of a bolt slowly backing out over time. I thought I torqued everything back well, but this one I flubbed on.

Anyway, just thought I would share in case it helps someone down the line.......
Thanks for the assistance.