Rep Power: 50

Hey gang been a while.

My 2003 EX rebuild went great. After all the work it runs like a champ, albeit I find it underpowered but that’s the d17 for ya.

However after resealing the oil pan three times, it is still losing oil at about a quart every 500 miles. No major puddles in the driveway just a drip a day. No smoke. No odd smells. No top engine puddles.

I crawled up under it and it looks like the damn pan seal is wet and still leaking on the right side (facing cockpit) near the front main seal. I don’t have the guts to get under it while running but there is drips on the very bottom front cover behind the crank pulley (new front main seal at rebuild) and the whole right side of the pan seal. Each time I redid this seal I got roughly the same result. No top engine leaks from the cam cap or valve cover that I can find. Good seal on oil filter and I replaced the drain plug with a “real one”.

Yes I followed the torque sequence and dammit I used enough of the goo to seal two pans.

So my next two options are goto a shop that will do the job with a warranty and drop $300 or attempt a pan swap with the one that goes on the d17a1, which has an actual gasket. I’m done with this Hondabond/Permatex crap.

Any opinions on this swap? It would seem that the JDM swaps would be a similar config, and the lack of girdle brackets would not be an issue? But I need some confidence from this crew before I go that way.

Advantage of going to the shop is that they can put it up while running and properly diagnose the leak if it is something nuts like a crack block or loose bolt from my rebuild, tho I can’t imagine where that would be. But for the price I can have a new pan and a real gasket and maybe finally be done.

 
Rep Power: 50

The more I read, more I think this is an oil pump issue. That’s the one gasket I didn’t touch.

 
Rep Power: 222

Yeah that's a common leak point, unfortunately a bit of a pain to get at

 
Rep Power: 50

But since I have to remove the pan anyway. What’s the opinion on putting on a steelie with a true gasket?

 
Rep Power: 222

A pan is a pan, just make sure the flange is flat on the steel pan