MK you were right. I changed the O' rings on the spool valve (VTEC) both the one between the valve and the engine and the one between the upper valve that contains the oil pressure switch and the lower part of the valve. What a difference. Where I had smelled oil burning on my exhaust when parked and left a major puddle, now it is clean and barely a noticeable drip. The drip now may be because I just changed the oil and there is residual oil still on the block.

This car had 272,000 miles on it and I believe the gaskets to have been original so no complaints. It was a <30.00 fix. One other thing, there was a production run change where the upper O' ring deleted a screen. Mine had this screen so that necessitated a run back to the Honda dealer to get the correct part. My recommendation would be to separate the upper portion of the valve and look for a screen before going to order your parts.

Thanks for all the help guys, and of course to Ron J for telling me where the valve was so that I could repair it.

All the best,

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx