Hello all,

I have a 2000 Civic EX (manual trans) with a bit of an oil leak. I changed the oil today and noticed quite a bit of oily grime on the driver's side of the pan, and a few driplets on the bottom. I tried to look up the side of the engine and see where it was coming from, but it was too tight in there for me to see much (i'm used to my big ford truck lol). from what I could tell, the oil seems to be coming from the front main seal area or I guess it could also be the oil pan gasket. I replaced the valve cover gasket at the last oil change, so I know that's good.

Any hints on narrowing down what exactly is leaking? How hard are those gaskets to replace? for comparison, I've done the oil pan gasket and rear main on my truck... pretty much have to remove the entire engine to get to it yay 4wd

 

Get some brake clean and clean off what's there. Start fresh and you should be able to get a better idea where it's origin is. If it's the oil pan gasket, not bad to replace. Recommend you get some HondaBond (Honda specific silicone sealant, great stuff) if you do it and torque the bolts down specifically (I think it's around 110 in/lbs or 9 ft/lbs, don't quote me check before you do it).

 

what's involved in dropping the oil pan on these cars? on the truck you have to either remove the engine or the front axle, basically... not fun

 

Nope nothing like that. Usually pull the exhaust pipe directly underneath, drain the oil, unbolt all the 10mm bolts and separate the pan from the block. Clean up the lip on the pan with brake clean and a scuff pad, clean the block mating surface similarly, apply HondaBond in specified placed, install gasket on pan, put in place and torque down, refill oil, re-install exhaust pipe with new gaskets. Done. Some older Honda models have a PCV drain-back feature into the pan and they were a PITA but 96-00 civics don't have that luckily.