Oil Leak

D

dath1974

Well-Known Member
118
60
Vehicle Model
Si
Body Style
sedan
Long-time mostly lurker here... I've got a 2013 Si (FB6) and while bolting up my fullrace downpipe I noticed that my oil pan was somewhat wet with oil. Just to be sure, I checked the drain bolt, though the leak appears to be coming from the front. The bolt was plenty tight, so I cleaned everything off really well and checked it again after a few weeks and sure enough, more oil on the pan.

I've called my local Honda dealer and am going to take it in this Thursday. I'm mostly curious about two things:

1 - Has anyone else had any leaks? I've done nothing that should cause one and I'm honestly very surprised to see any leaking. I have less than 3000 miles on this car and haven't touched anything that would cause leaking, but...

2 - I've got a PRL intake, FR catless downpipe and full exhaust, hasport rear mount, and flashpro... Should I flash the ECU back to stock before taking it in? I'll end up with a CEL if I do so... Or should I just not sweat it, take it in and hope for the best? I have next to no experience having other people work on cars for me, let alone warranty service. Save the odd oil change, I've pretty much always done my own work (or regretted paying someone else to do work badly) and not owned new cars. I've had some pretty junk cars that required quite a lot of work actually...

Thanks!
 
None of those items would cause an issue with oil dripping on the front of your engine, so I would take it in as-is. You can't pinpoint where it is coming from... or a pic of where it is? Maybe a seal on the oil pan itself in the front? Pics?
 
Any cracks on the oil pan? Even a very thin crack from a speed bump or rock or something...
 
Thanks for the quick replies! I honestly didn't attempt to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from when I first saw it as I was losing the sun and I was getting a bit tired/had to work the next day. I looked enough to see that the front of the oil pan was wet (not just the bottom), but I couldn't see just how high it was coming from, about as high as I could easily see with the light I had and the angle I was looking from. So I wiped it all down at the time so I could make sure it was really leaking and I wasn't crazy. Yesterday when I went out to recheck it and found it was wet, I didn't put it up, so I couldn't get under it to look closely. I'll see if I can't find some ramps tomorrow so I can put it up more easily (I'm getting lazy these days!) and check more closely. I'm guessing more information at this point wouldn't hurt my case when I take it in Thursday morning to have the Honda dealer look at it.

323 - Gosh, I don't think so, but that's a really good point. I'm used to stamped pans old American cars, so I'll look more carefully, but honestly the pan looked perfect, so if it's got a crack, I don't think it's from an impact unless something hit it up high where I couldn't see well before.
 
Have you checked the oil level to see if it's dropping? Make sure you don't run low. Checking often will also let you know if the leak is fast or very slow.

Unless you've changed the crush washer at the drain bolt every time, reusing it on oil changes could cause a slight leak there. They are supposed to be changed after each use but I, admittedly, have reused them several times without issue. Just a thought.

It sounds like you have cleaned it and checked it thoroughly enough to know it's not coming from the drain plug. Maybe the gasket got pinched at the factory? Has your oil level ever been low that you know of? Unusually low?

The 2013 or 2014 LX had a slight tire recall from the rim getting pinched at the factory so it's a possibility that something got snagged while yours was being assembled.
 
Nix - I should have mentioned, the oil level hasn't change much if at all and is between the marks, so I imagine the leak is fairly slow. I also don't get accumulation under the car where I park, so I suspect it's mostly leaking out while heated up/driving. I've not yet changed the oil as I'm only at something like 2800 miles (yeah, I don't drive a lot!)... Hopefully it's as simple as a new pan gasket and I'm good. I'll check it tomorrow just to make sure it's not coming from anywhere scary.
 
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Didn't have a chance to look closer yesterday, so I just took it in this morning. The whole process was completely painless. No charge to inspect it (or fix if they can find the issue). They called back a few minutes ago to let me know they couldn't find the leak after running it on the lift for a while. So they cleaned it off, put some trace powder on and told me to bring it back in a week. I'm waiting for the shuttle right now to take me back to pick it up... I'll update you all again after the final diagnosis/result.

Thanks again for the advice/support!
 
If they couldn't find the problem on the left, that would tend to rule out the pan gasket as the source of the leak. Also, because it is leaking higher than the gasket, it would seem to be an engine seal.
 
dath1974 said:
Didn't have a chance to look closer yesterday, so I just took it in this morning. The whole process was completely painless. No charge to inspect it (or fix if they can find the issue). They called back a few minutes ago to let me know they couldn't find the leak after running it on the lift for a while. So they cleaned it off, put some trace powder on and told me to bring it back in a week. I'm waiting for the shuttle right now to take me back to pick it up... I'll update you all again after the final diagnosis/result.

Thanks again for the advice/support!
Click to expand...

They did not complain at all about your mods? MY full-race and invidia are so loud they always seem to not be happy about it...and hope its nothing big!
 
@hotdogjohnny - I suspect the front of the oil pan myself, but we'll see after I take it back next week. It is difficult to say as I couldn't easily see it when I was under there and they couldn't either on the lift.

@Dennis Rockholt - Nope, they didn't say a word about them. Nothing at all. The dealer I took it to (Beaverton Honda) is quite large/high volume though, so I never saw the actual service tech, just the clerk that checked me in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they don't change their tune once the leak is identified, but based on the experience so far I suspect they'll just fix it.
 
I'm wondering if the leak is coming from higher up and slowly running down on to your oil pan? I'm assuming that the mechanic would give your engine a thorough inspection to make sure this is not the case.
I'm interested to hear what the cause is. :coffee:
 
Busy couple days! I took my car back to Honda yesterday and they took another look and couldn't find any sign of a leak. Their only explanation is that possibly some fluid had been spilled at some point and when I cleaned the pan area myself I didn't get everything up higher and it ran back down again. I wasn't able to talk to the actual tech/mechanic that cleaned it up, but it seems reasonably plausible this could happen, though it would have to have been brake fluid from replacing the clutch line or coolant from replacing the hoses on the throttle body (which it didn't appear to be). I'm skeptical about this, but I verified myself that it's dry at this point, so I don't know what else to say. They said they'd be happy to look at it again in another 500 miles to double check it's good still. So all-in-all, Honda have been great to work with on this, but it's still a mystery to me what happened. Either it's *VERY* slow, or I spilled more fluid than I thought when I opened the clutch or coolant lines and mistook the residue that ran down to the oil pan for oil.

I'll post back again if I see any more evidence of leaking, but for now I guess it's good and I'll just keep an eye on it.
 
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dath1974 said:
Busy couple days! I took my car back to Honda yesterday and they took another look and couldn't find any sign of a leak. Their only explanation is that possibly some fluid had been spilled at some point and when I cleaned the pan area myself I didn't get everything up higher and it ran back down again. I wasn't able to talk to the actual tech/mechanic that cleaned it up, but it seems reasonably plausible this could happen, though it would have to have been brake fluid from replacing the clutch line or coolant from replacing the hoses on the throttle body (which it didn't appear to be). I'm skeptical about this, but I verified myself that it's dry at this point, so I don't know what else to say. They said they'd be happy to look at it again in another 500 miles to double check it's good still. So all-in-all, Honda have been great to work with on this, but it's still a mystery to me what happened. Either it's *VERY* slow, or I spilled more fluid than I thought when I opened the clutch or coolant lines and mistook the residue that ran down to the oil pan for oil.

I'll post back again if I see any more evidence of leaking, but for now I guess it's good and I'll just keep an eye on it.
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That's kinda what I was thinking it might be @dath1974
Thankfully it's nothing serious but it would be nice to know where the fluid came from.
Let us know if anything more happens.:vtec:
 
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