Oil Leaking....Any DIY?

[MRJdmNSX]

Well after checking out the car on the rack, oil is leaking from around the vtec solenoid*im assuming from the seal*, and from around the crank *assuming its the crank seal*.Not that much oil at all, very little but you can see it accumulate. anyone have this happen to them? if so how much did it cost to fix? have any of you done it yourself? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Tony

 

[chumch]

Both cam seal and VTEC solenoid gasket leaks/seeps are a common problem. The cam seal is quite a job from what I understand and so many people just live with it. THe VTEC solenoid gasket was leaking on my car when I had a ppi done on it. The owner changed the gasket himself. I think it's pretty simple-something like 3 bolts.

 

[MJK]

Vtec solenoid gaskets are an easy DIY, and probably are the majority of your problems given the high pressure oil behind them. The parts you need for a 91-94 are:
(2) 15825-PR3-005 FILTER, SPOOL VALVE
(2) 36172-PR3-005 FILTER

The round seals are called cam plugs, and are pretty tricky to replace. You have to dissassemble the head, it is not a straight pop and swap type deal. This is probably best combined with a valve adjustment. You can either replace with OEM plugs or aftermarket billet plugs. See here for more info on cam plugs and see here for more infor on valve adjustment.

 

[Scin]

I had a leak on my cam seals that I had the acura dealer replace, it was big bucks... like $600 or something ridiculas.

 

[Jin1976]

SoS sells them for much less than that.

I had a leak on my cam seals that I had the acura dealer replace, it was big bucks... like $600 or something ridiculas.

 

[MJK]

^
Its the labor that gets you, not the part cost.

 

[mikeh]

OEM cam seals are $8 each (list i think, my dealer doesn't give me any discounts far as i know), just FYI.

-mike

 

[MRJdmNSX]

How about the crank seal? anyone have any problems from oil leaking from there? Thanks to everyone with the information. Very informative.

 

[drew]

First step is clean up the engine so you can tell where the leak is coming from.

VTEC seals are a 1-2 hour job max.

I did find it very difficult to torque to spec because of the limited space. I ended up faking it and they have yet to leak in the past 5+ years on my daily driver.

**

CAM seals are PITA, but there might be a "book rate" (ie short cut, non-workshop method) to do this.

The SoS replacements look awesome and they have a DIY guide.

Drew

 

[Larry Bastanza]

I would be very surprised if you had a crank main seal leaking. The order of probable leaking from my experience is:

1. Spool Valve Seals
2. VC Gaskets
3. Oil Pan Gasket(when this looks bad, be sure #1,#2, and #4 is not the problem)
4. Cam Plugs

Usually #1 AND #2 cures most oil leaks

HTH,
LarryB

 

[NSX 3.0]

Well after checking out the car on the rack, oil is leaking from around the vtec solenoid*im assuming from the seal*, and from around the crank *assuming its the crank seal*.Not that much oil at all, very little but you can see it accumulate. anyone have this happen to them? if so how much did it cost to fix? have any of you done it yourself? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Tony

My rear VTEC Spool Valve gaskets were replaced for around $100 from a Acura Dealership, took the tech about an hour give or take.

 

[MRJdmNSX]

Vtec solenoid gaskets are an easy DIY, and probably are the majority of your problems given the high pressure oil behind them. The parts you need for a 91-94 are:
(2) 15825-PR3-005 FILTER, SPOOL VALVE
(2) 36172-PR3-005 FILTER

The round seals are called cam plugs, and are pretty tricky to replace. You have to dissassemble the head, it is not a straight pop and swap type deal. This is probably best combined with a valve adjustment. You can either replace with OEM plugs or aftermarket billet plugs. See here for more info on cam plugs and see here for more infor on valve adjustment.

Sorry for bringing this back, im going down to acura today to purchase the gaskets, if im not mistaken, i need 2 of both items above to fix my problem with the vtec solenoid.