I'm in the process of replacing the timing belt on a new to me 04 tl with 130k miles. I took a picture of something that looked odd to me, it looks like two threaded bolt holes that don't line up. Was there something in the back bolt hole that I'm missing? It doesn't look very accessible.

I wanted to check this since it worries me a little.

Another issue I have is a bad oil leak, I thought it was the front seal but when I took the crank sprocket off it was dry. It is leaking horribly like 1 quart every 500 miles. I can't narrow down its origin, what's a common place for these to leak?

Thanks

 

The leak came from the oil pump housing which very common for J series motor. Image below show as #2

 

Can you remove the front cover and replace that without pulling the oil pan?

Also, I took a few more pics of where it look like the leak is coming from. It's mostly on the upper right side of the front cover.

 

Most likely gasket #3 in the diagram on the oil pump. It has been leaking on my Accord, V6, but not seriously.

You HAVE TO pull the oil pan, in order to get the oil pump off.

 

So I don't need to pull the front cover to replace the oil pump seal, I just need to pull the oil pan and reseal it?

How does the front cover not keep this from leaking externally since this is behind the cover?

 

You need to pull the lower all 3 timing belt covers, crank pulley, crank gear, oil pan, then you can pull the oil pump off.