Tehvine

So, yesterday after work I was out back of work BSing with a few friends. One of them has a VR6 that has an oil leak and I was commenting on his stains all over the lot. Then I pointed out his stains that were under my car.... only he had never parked there before. Sure enough, the whole underbody on the driverside was coated with oil, oil all over the ground and a significant puddle under my oil pan. Checked the dipstick, none on it. So we look behind the car and there is a trail which went quite far around the lot... wonderful.

We headed out to autozone in his car and I picked up 10 qts of oil with intention of driving it home... yeah.... I filled it up (took 3 qts) started the car, moved it to a clean spot to see how bad the leak was.. It's POURING out of the bottom of the timing belt cover as soon as the oil gets pumped up into the motor (after about 5 seconds of running).

I've been searching around the net and apparently the F22's have an issue where the front balance shaft oil seal pops out and there is a fix for it, just looking for anyone's insight on this before have the time on wednesday to rip the thing apart to see what's going on. Scary part is, my oil light never came on, but I think I caught it at the right time. Had it flatbedded to my house.

I want to say I heard a hissing noise when I quickly drove it from across the street into my driveway, but it's hard to tell because the engine was cold. If I have to pull the motor to fix any of this stuff or if the block has a crack, I may just go H22 and be done with it.

WineRed2.2CL

goodluck dude.

sounds like a bad seal. IF you have a f22 its def that. I had a similiar issue. You should consider doing your timing belt and water pump while your in there.

Tehvine

Yeah I hope that is all it is. My timing belt and whatnot was done 25k ago. Had I known this issue existed, I would have had the fix already put in. Not safe yet though, I will tear it down tomorrow and see what's going on.

Josh99CL

There is a service bulletin about the problem but it never made it to recall status. They sell a part that is a pin that holds the seal in IIRC, if you're aware or the dealership isn't retarded they'll put that in when they do your TB but most don't find out about it until the seal pops out.

Tehvine

If my timing belt and balancer belt happen to be soaked in oil, should I be replacing them too? I am not sure if that basically renders them hazardous to keep using, or if I can just blast them with some oil degreaser to remove it.

Tehvine

Nevermind, I just read the service manual and If they are soaked I must replace them.

Tehvine

Wonderful, right? The seal is that reddish looking ring on the front balancer shaft. I do not see how this did not make recall status, that is a serious design flaw. My timing belt is indeed covered in oil, but I am able to clean it off, debating if I will replace it. It is in great shape still, the oil came right off.

IllGottenGains

A new timing belt does not cost much. No sense taking it all apart and putting a questionable timing belt back in.

Tehvine

Well, all finished. I tacked it today, wasn't too bad.

Picked up new timing / balancer belts from Honda and the retainer kit. Also got new accessory belts since they will be off anyways.
For anyone who is going to have their timing belt done, the part number for the retainer kit is: 06923-P0A-306 from Honda. This was a recall that would have been covered for free up until 2003.

But anyways, I've never done a timing belt before. It was kinda scary but I just put it at TDC and painted my own reference marks. Took about 4 hours in total. Had to go buy a bigger impact wrench. My 340ft-lb crapsman 1/2" was not big enough. Went to lowes and got an Ingersoll-Rand 600ft-lb wrench and a MAPP gas kit. Needed that extra heat and torque to bust off the crank pulley bolt. The worst part was honestly the lower timing belt cover, I wrestled with that cursing for a good combined 45 minutes.

I do apologize for not taking pics but I was excited. I let it idle for a minute or two a moment ago and it didn't appear to leak oil at all, which is a great sign. It also didn't blow up and clang valves! Letting the hondabond set for a little bit before i road test it.