okay well coming out of my friends house today we noticed oil under my car. we put it on the jack and it was coming from my pan so we went to autozone and bouoght a new oil drain plug and washer, the leaking seemed to stop. now i just noticed the oil started leaking again from my oil pan. the oil seems to be coming from the drain bolt area but the drain bolt it tightened in, any idea guys?

 

try the OEM metal drain plug washers. you can get from passwordjdm i think
the plastic ones seem to give me problems too

 

while drain plugs and oil pans can and do leak... they're blamed for WAY more leaks than they should... lots of people have replaced drain plugs, oil pans and oil pan gaskets for leaky valve covers... an oil leak from almost anywhere on your engine will run down and drip off of your drain plug... gravity...
having said that, it definitely could be a drain plug issue, but look around above that area very closely for a higher leak.

 

thanks for the advice, ill check for a higher leak tommrow, but i dont think its from anywhere higher but ill double check, its losing oil at a pretty fast rate, any other suggestions what it could be

 

Was the original oil pan bolt that you replaced damaged? Did you torque the new bolt to 33-lb-ft?

Others places where engine oil could be leaking from are the front and rear main seals and the distributor.

 

the oil drain bolt didnt seem to be damaged but i replaced it anyway with a new washer, i tightened it pretty tight but its still leaking, the distributor isnt leaking not sure about the front and rear main seals, from the sound of it could it be the oil pan gasket?

 

I made an error. A rear main seal leak more likely would lead to oil dripping through the weep hole in the bell housing separating the engine and transmission.

To confidently localize the leak(s), carefully clean oil from engine surfaces and thereafter do frequent inspections to identify the source of the oil leak(s).

If you find that oil is leaking past the oil pan gasket, first try simply tightening/torquing the oil pan nuts and bolt to spec. This requires removal one exhaust pipe and an engine bracket, similar to replacing the oil pan gasket (see service manual at link in my signature).

 

ya what he said...

simplest way to find the leaky spot run your clean hands around a COOL MOTOR... run your finger just under the back of the valve cover... if its oily its your valve cover leaking,
if its around the Vtec solenoid its leaking.
if all of those feel dry then check the oil filter. maybe its not tight enough or MAYBE (happened to me twice now) maybe last time the filter was changed the old rubber oring stuck to the block and your doubled up on the oil seal and alittle is leaking by which could eventualy blow the double seal out and be a huge PITA! been there done that twice! ive learned my lesson with my 99civic. i dont know why but the oil filter seal likes to stick to the block! ive never had this problem on any other car!

other than those possibilities id say its the oil pan gasket. and when instaling the new one.... well suposedly its not needed to put sealer on the gasket BUT i like to be better safe than sorry and put sealer on both sides of the gasket all the way around.... it helps for a longer seal IMO. rubber can shrink up over time but the sealer should help fill the gaps. i used hondabond on my old civic when i droped its pan.

 

yea i checked the oil filter its hard on there, and i dont have vtec =( so i dont have to worry about the solenoid and theres no oil around my valve cover seeping of the sides of the head, so im guessing its the gasket. but i dont understand the oil drain bolt is tightened and i cant spot any holes on the oil pan, does this make any sense?

 

its leaking from the OIL PAN GASKET. not the oil pan plug then.... at least most likely. if there is oil above the drain plug then its 1 of 2 things MAYBE..... most likely the oil pan gasket itself and youll have to drop the oil pan, 2nd thing which is highly unlikely would be the oil pressure switch maybe loose or busted. id guess the oilpan gasket first tho.

i must also say if you drop your oil pan BE SURE TO HAVE THE PROPER TORQUE WRENCH WHEN REINSTALLING THE BOLTS/NUTS!!!!!! they are tiny bolts and can snap very easily!!!!
if you dont have a torque wrench or cannt get one then at least use a 1/4inch ratchet and do not use the end of the ratchet only work on the base with your palm! its still risky if you tighten them down to much the bolts can snap in half and your screwed into alot more work to get the busted bolt out and get a new bolt! not fun been there done that! and to firm the bolts all up in a zigzag pattern to even out the tension on the pan. dont just start at one bolt and move to the next one. constantly go criss cross from end to end side to side and at first just snug the bolts wait till you have them all snug and then start to tighten them down again cross patterns..... sealer also helps alot.