I just bought a 95 Civic 4dr LX with 250,000 miles. It is leaking oil pretty bad, so my question is. Is it worth trying to get the leak fixed( not sure yet were it is leaking from) or should I replace the motor? How many hours would it take an experienced mechanic to swap in a different motor?

 

First locate the source of the oil leak(s), for example from the oil pan, valve cover, rear or front main seal, distributor, VTEC solenoid, etc.

 

It is on the side with the distributor and rear main.

 

Well a distributor leak would likely be easy to fix, whereas the rear main seal would require more work. Try to figure which. Do you have VTEC?

 

looks like the rear main or the trans. Is it worth it to try to fix the leak since the car has 250K miles?

 

Are you also losing transmission fluid? If not, then the rear seal is leaking. If the engine runs fine otherwise, I would seriously consider just replacing the seal rather than the whole engine. Just my opinion.

 

RonJ, What part of TX are you in, anywhere around Austin?

 

No, I live in the Houston area.

 

So I finally got around to having it looked at and it is the rear main. Is it worth trying to fix if the car has 250K miles on it. He said it would be around $700-900 to fix it and put a new cluth in while the tranny is out. How much could I buy a used engine for? 95 1.6l.

 

How bad does it leak? You may be money ahead to just keep putting oil in until it needs a new clutch, then have the seal done at the same time. That price also seems kind of high for a routine clutch/seal job.