Hey all,

This might be a big problem or not, but maybe you guys can steer me in the right direction.

I've got a '98 EX with about 140K miles. Recently, it's developed an oil leak fron the front of the crank, where it comes out of the plastic housing for the timing belt.

It's a decent leak, leaving a dribble of oil wherever it's parked. Can anyone let me know if this is something I might be able to fix myself, and how hard it would be? I'm a fairly good mechanic.

Thank you!

 

well if you can time the motor yourself you could fix the problem and have a good impact gun to pull the cranks pulley bolt.... you need to remove the timing belt, and pull the timing belt pulleys on the crank and cam shaft just to be safe and replace those oil seals. and while the motors face is opened up go ahead and replace the water pump and the timing belt if they havent been done in awhile.
the oil seals are very easy to swap out... only problem is getting to the oil seals since the timing bel is infront of the seals!

 

It's most likely a leak from the oil seal of either the camshaft or crankshaft. You need to remove the crankshaft pulley and timing belt to access these seals. If your a good mechanic, then this is definitely a DIY job. Many people use a wine-bottle corkscrew to remove the oil seal. The key to proper installation of the new oil seal is to tap it in evenly using a proper sized socket that won't damage the seal.

By the way, I recently noticed an oil leak from the weep hole in my lower timing belt cover, so I thought I also needed to replace one of the oil seals. Luckily, before removing the crank pulley, I noticed oil leaking from the valve cover around the upper timing belt cover. Turned out that putting fresh silicone sealant on the valve cover gasket solved the leak. Apparently, oil from the valve cover dripped inside the timing belt covers and eventually exited from the weep hole. Just another thought for you.