lugoismad

I asked this over on honda-tech too...but I thought i'd ask here as well, I really need to get this fixed ASAP and all the help I can get would be awesome.

Last sunday I changed the timing and balance belts on my 96 Accord. Its the 2.2 with No VTEC...so I think this makes it the F22?

Anyways....everything went good, I changed the belts, it runs great. Today my wife pointed out a pretty nasty oil leak I hadn't noticed. The car was about a quart low on oil and was leaking like a sieve. I'd put about 500 miles on it since sunday (we live pretty far out in the country and I have a 60 mile commute to work).

I put it up on the ramps in my garage, and I can't figure out where the oil is coming from. The majority of it looks like its coming out from between the block and the crank pulley.

Things I know:
The crank pulley bolt was an SOB to get out. took us like 2 hours to finally break it loose. When I tightened it back on, I put it on as hard as my big air ratchet would torque it. I don't have a torque wrench big enough for that application.

I used a block of wood to hold up the engine on the oil pan with a floor jack when I removed the motor mount. I thought at first maybe I'd cracked the oil pan or something, but I don't think the oil is coming from there, it looks like its coming down the side of the block from behind the crank pulley.

After putting it all back together, I had one rubber o-ring left. I THINK this was the o-ring that went around the timing belt tensioner and kept water out from the plastic cover. Or, am I sorely wrong and this went on the crank pulley bolt? I didn't use an o-ring when I put it back on...please please please tell me this is right, because I don't remember an o-ring on there when I took it off.

I took the top timing belt cover off, next to the valve cover and looked inside. I'd assume if it was a serious leak within the timing belt / balance belt area that the two belts would have been covered in oil. This wasn't the case, when I shown my shop light down in there they looked clean and still brand new, so if it is a leak in there, its sticking to oozing down the side of the block, in which case I can't believe I've lost a quart in 5 days!

Any ideas or things to check? I cleaned up the block really well with some paper towels, when I drive it to work tonight (I work thirds) I'm going to go out with a flash light and check it again to see if I see any more clues.

Could I have missed a seal or something when I did the timing belt change? Like I said, the only one I remember went between the plastic case and the tensioner adjuster.

Thanks!!!!!

500$accord

That sounds like a nightmare. I did my EX and didn't run into any problems. There was a metal retainer that went over one of the seals to fix a defect that caused excessive oil loss. I bought the part when I went to do my belts, but it must have already been done under warranty. Do you know of this part? it was installed over one of the seals, completely covering it from expanding outward. Can't remember which shaft/pulley this was for.

There was an awesome writeup on these forums that I used when swapping out my belts. Great pictures and had extensive detail on teh belt tensioning procedure. It had a picture of that retainer from what I can remember.

I have a hard time believing that overtightening the crank bolt could cause an oil leak, but I will let the experts comment.

500$accord

I forgot to say that I could not find that tech article with the details otherwise I would have shared. I kind of remember there being a seal that went in the cover like you said. I don't remember the crank having an oring.

Whenever I have issues with parts like that I go to bernardiparts.com They have schematics for all the parts for your car. A good resource. Prices are very good too... for a Honda dealer.

lugoismad

Yes, very much a nightmare. Because....we don't have the money for another car and was relying on this one. This f'n sucks. Basically if I can't fix this thing, I'll have to clean it up, sell it for as much as I can, and pray I can make car payments on another car.

I used a writeup from here, but I ran into a few issues where the howto didn't match what the heck I was seeing. I'm fairly certain it was for a slightly different engine.

Yes, my car had the fork looking thing that went over one of the pulleys, I believe it was on the left hand side of the engine if you were facing it from the drivers side quarter panel.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd really really appreciate it. I'm freaking out right now because I don't know what I'm going to be doing about a car for me to get to work and a car for the wife to get to school.

Thank you, I'll take a look over there at the schematics and see if I notice anything I could have missed.

VPUPPY

The area you are describing is your oil pump. For good measure, I'd suggest taking it all back apart but don't remove the balance shaft belt or the timing belt. This would be the safest way to go about things. Did you replace any of the oil seals on that side of the engine? Crankshaft oil seal? Balance shaft oil seal(s)?. This type of issue doesn't warrant selling the car just yet...it may be a cheap fix since will be doing the labor.

strykernyc

VPUPPY is right and I remember having the same issue after a timing belt job, and it was one of the oil seals. On my 96 I lost all the oil and good thing the oil light came on, and I pulled over right way. You are supposed to change all the seals when u do a belt job.

500$accord

I had no idea seal replacement was considered part of a timing belt change. That is good information to know if I get enough miles to warrant another belt change.

Best of luck with the repair.

tburger

I own a honda civic with 185000 miles and just had my timing belt changed for the first time (i know) and what do u know... im down almost 2 quarts.

Aliciamedea

I took my 96 Honda accord in to have timing belt and water pump done. ($850)noticed a slow oil leak, 1 week later it hemorrhaged! I put 3 quarts in and drove 30 minutes down the street and my oil light came on and there was no oil. added more took it to mechanic and dropped it off. looked like it was coming out of the timing belt. He said if it was their mess up he would fix for free. Now he wants me to pick up the car at a cost of $505 and says it can only be driven under 50 mph or its gonna blow again, and that they can't fix it without a total engine rebuild. Am I being screwed?