Honda Car Forum

Hi All,

Want to get some advice on my 86 prelude. It has 230K on it, still
running very strong. I sometimes cannot resist the temptation to rev
it between 4k-5K to switch gear. Lately, I found a little bit smoke
coming underneath the car and it turned out some oil was dripping onto
the exhaust. I climbed underneath the car and found a oil collecting
around the bolts of the oil pan. My thought was the gasket needs
replacing but some the dealer and some local mechanics suggested that
the prelude seal seldom went bad. It might be the distributor seal.

I looked around my engine and found a little wet around the bottom of
the distributor and a little bit wet at teh edge of the head gasket
around same area. I am not sure if the distributor dripped over there
and caused the area to be wet or not. I assumed something from the top
dripped all the way down and got collected around the bolts of the oil
pan or just the oil pan gasket was gone.

Almost every bolt of the oil pan has some oil around them. Is it
possible to collect that much oil if it is leaking from the
distributor or somewhere else. Any advice on how to do a diagnostic on
this type of oil leak.

It does not leak to a point that I need to refill oil often but it
just happen to drip on a hot place and produced smoke. There are oil
spots overnight as well around the same area. Performance is still
around 4.5K rpm at 90 mph and 3k at 75 mph. I cannot feel any
difference before and after the oil smoke issue was observed.

Thanks a lot for your help. I really want to keep this car until it is
up to 300K since most of my miles are southern CA highway mileage.

Thanks again.

Russell

replace the oil pan gasket

Hopefully that will fix it


"russell chung" <rchung@myronl.com> wrote in message
news:bbf5b623.0308290929.6b6806c4@posting.google.c om...
> Hi All,
>
> Want to get some advice on my 86 prelude. It has 230K on it, still
> running very strong. I sometimes cannot resist the temptation to rev
> it between 4k-5K to switch gear. Lately, I found a little bit smoke
> coming underneath the car and it turned out some oil was dripping onto
> the exhaust. I climbed underneath the car and found a oil collecting
> around the bolts of the oil pan. My thought was the gasket needs
> replacing but some the dealer and some local mechanics suggested that
> the prelude seal seldom went bad. It might be the distributor seal.
>
> I looked around my engine and found a little wet around the bottom of
> the distributor and a little bit wet at teh edge of the head gasket
> around same area. I am not sure if the distributor dripped over there
> and caused the area to be wet or not. I assumed something from the top
> dripped all the way down and got collected around the bolts of the oil
> pan or just the oil pan gasket was gone.
>
> Almost every bolt of the oil pan has some oil around them. Is it
> possible to collect that much oil if it is leaking from the
> distributor or somewhere else. Any advice on how to do a diagnostic on
> this type of oil leak.
>
> It does not leak to a point that I need to refill oil often but it
> just happen to drip on a hot place and produced smoke. There are oil
> spots overnight as well around the same area. Performance is still
> around 4.5K rpm at 90 mph and 3k at 75 mph. I cannot feel any
> difference before and after the oil smoke issue was observed.
>
> Thanks a lot for your help. I really want to keep this car until it is
> up to 300K since most of my miles are southern CA highway mileage.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Russell

Distributor o-rings and oil pan gaskets are fairly common oil leaks on all
older Hondas. I'd start at the top and work my way down...


"russell chung" <rchung@myronl.com> wrote in message
news:bbf5b623.0308290929.6b6806c4@posting.google.c om...
> Hi All,
>
> Want to get some advice on my 86 prelude. It has 230K on it, still
> running very strong. I sometimes cannot resist the temptation to rev
> it between 4k-5K to switch gear. Lately, I found a little bit smoke
> coming underneath the car and it turned out some oil was dripping onto
> the exhaust. I climbed underneath the car and found a oil collecting
> around the bolts of the oil pan. My thought was the gasket needs
> replacing but some the dealer and some local mechanics suggested that
> the prelude seal seldom went bad. It might be the distributor seal.

Valve cover gasket. Very common. Distributor o-ring is second common
(usually causes no smoke.) The level of ease to replace seals are
below:
1. Valve cover and grommets -easiest
2. Oil filter seal
3. Distrib o-ring
4. Oil pan

The seal comes in two forms. OEM and aftermarket. Make sure you get
OEM.
Ricky

> Distributor o-rings and oil pan gaskets are fairly common oil leaks on all
> older Hondas. I'd start at the top and work my way down...
>
>
> "russell chung" <rchung@myronl.com> wrote in message
> news:bbf5b623.0308290929.6b6806c4@posting.google.c om...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Want to get some advice on my 86 prelude. It has 230K on it, still
> > running very strong. I sometimes cannot resist the temptation to rev
> > it between 4k-5K to switch gear. Lately, I found a little bit smoke
> > coming underneath the car and it turned out some oil was dripping onto
> > the exhaust. I climbed underneath the car and found a oil collecting
> > around the bolts of the oil pan. My thought was the gasket needs
> > replacing but some the dealer and some local mechanics suggested that
> > the prelude seal seldom went bad. It might be the distributor seal.

ch gear. Lately, I found a little bit smoke
> > coming underneath the car and it turned out some oil was dripping onto
> > the exhaust. I climbed underneath the car and found a oil collecting
> > around the bolts of the oil pan. My thought was the gasket needs
> > replacing but some the dealer and some local mechanics suggested that
> > the prelude seal seldom went bad. It might be the distributor seal.