At least I think it was the head gasket. I was driving down the highway two days ago and I saw a smoke screen behind me. I managed to get off the road right as the oil light came on and turned the car off, then coasted to the side of the road. No oil, or, not a lot anyway. So I went and got some oil, put it back in and moved it to a safe place where I could look at it about a block away. Puked out all the oil I put in it in that span of time (maybe .1 miles, 1 minute running). I'm pretty sure this is not coming from the pan gasket which is what I had hoped, so I think its probably the head gasket. I had the car towed because it couldn't be driven, and the mechanic concurred. I'm going to try to tow it back to my garage tomorrow.

Still can't figure out why this happened!? Does the 1.6 have any history of head gasket failure? This motor has 114k on it, which I didn't think was much for a honda. I changed the oil that morning but I can't imagine what effect that would have had. Timing belt I also did about 6-8k ago but I figure if its run this long with no hitch that couldn't be it either.

Wonder if you guys have any experience with this sort of thing....

K

 

Check whether the oil leaked from a loose oil filter or oil pan bolt.

 

checked both of those already. Seems to be squirting out under pressure. When I tow it back I'll have to get a closer look. The guy who who's been under the car says he thinks its cfoming from above the oil filter. I thought since I just changed the oil that maybe it was the pan gasket. Could this much oil leak from a blown valve cover gasket?

K

 

Might be coming from the oil pressure switch located directly above the oil filter. Did someone recently check the oil pressure?

 

thanks for the quick reply. You know, the guy who was looking at the motor said he was sure itw asn't the filter or the sending unit, but I don't know how he could have determined that without removing a few things which I know he didn't.

The ohter thing that threw me was that I didn't see any coolant, and the coolant I looked at still looked good and green. I'll check that first, thanks!

K

 

Let's hope the oil pressure switch is leaking. I also hope that the engine was not damaged by the lack of oil.

 

Since its an EX, check around the vtec solenoid. The whole assembly is under pressure. I've been having this problem and it spews oil like no other business. It leaks down the block and right on the exhaust. A new spoon gasket cost around 20 bucks.

 

also double check that the oil filter does not have 2 gaskets (1 from the new one and 1 from the old one). it's not a common problem but I have read people who have changed their filter and failed to make sure that the gasket came out with the old filter. If you have 2 gaskets, it's a recipe for major oil leakage.

 

Yep, I'm a little worried about that too although I did get the car off the road before it ran out of oil, then turned it off and coasted. When I added oil and moved it again it didn't sound bad but I think failing an engine tear-down only time will tell.

The leak started after I was on the highway for a couple of minutes and I think what happened is after it started it got progressively worse in a short time. Becasue it lasted quite some time on the highway before the oil light came on.

Originally I thought I was dealing with a head gasket because it looked like the oil I put in was leaking out another color, but it was dark and perhaps I was just seeing the fact that it was frothy because it was purged under pressure. I do know the oil is coming somehow from the back part of the motor, which makes me wonder where the oil galleys are on this motor? Does it oil the top end of the motor through the rockers? IF it does I would assume the galleys are on either edge of the motor and that even a head gasket failure near the back of the motor wouldn't cause massive oil loss. I assumed you'd see much more coolant than oil under that condition. I also never saw the motor run hot, and it wasn't running badly when I added oil and started it, it was just losing oil quickly.

Anyway, I picked up a hitch for my SUV today and will install it tonight so I can pick up the car. Its 50 miles away and the hitch cost half as much as a tow truck would. I'll let you guys know what happened when I pull it apart. Wish me luck-

K