I replaced my oil pan and used the red high temp rtv where it is recommended on the pan and rubber gasket. After I replaced the pan, a few weeks went by and I noticed motor oil on the tranny. My assumption now is that my oil leak was not the oil pan originally, but the rear main seal.

I had a mechanic look at it yesterday, and he thought my leak was from the oil pan gasket that I replaced because I used the red high temp rtv gasket sealant. Supposedly, oil will cause it to not bond. He told me to redo it using the black rtv.

Is there any way to determine exactly where the leak is coming from that I can do myself?

 

RTV is RTV, regardless of color, to me. I would stay away from RTV in tube and if i was to use, I will use as little as possible.

Finding oil leak in that area would be difficult. It well could be the main seal is leaking. Likelihood of that is high if the car is with high mileage.

 

Oil can also leak from the distributor or VTEC solenoid and run all the way down the engine to appear to be an oil pan or seal leak. About all you can do is clean off all the oil and watch carefully for where it first appears.

When working on a steel oil pan it's important not to overtighten the bolts, which will dent the pan upward around the bolt holes and cause leaks. After removing the pan, check that it is not bent from the last guy overtightening the bolts. Sealant should not be necessary.

 

Red RTV is fine. I have used it without problem on my oil pans. Use a new OEM gasket and torque the nuts and bolts to spec in the correct sequence in several steps.

 

I am confused on this. What is an OEM gasket? Honda uses Hondabond RTV and no gaskets.
Bought a new oil pan. I have tried a rubber gasket with black RTV with no luck. Stripped everything off and just used a new rubber gasket. Still leaks.
Dealer wants $250 to replace the gasket (it's a one hour job)
Is it worth just getting some Hondabond and using only that?

 

^What engine/car?

OEM = Honda gasket

The oil pan has a rubber gasket and also needs sealant applied to curved/corner edges at each end.

Did you torque to spec in sequence in several passes?

 

+1

+1. I have no gasket on my oil pan, just honda-bond and zero leaks from the pan. I finally got around to removing the trans to get to the rear main a bout 8 months ago and that fixed everything. Check where oil may be originating from (mk said) and make sure everything is torqued down correctly in the correct order. (ronj) said.

OP, also, if you are unfamiliar with this forum, MK and RONJ are the ones to listen to when it comes to this type of stuff.

 

94 dx hatch. The new oil pan has no rubber gasket.
I don't know if I got the exact torque specks as my torque wrench only goes down to 25lbs/ft. I was very careful to cross tighten and to not over torque.
I was just reading the FSM. It states to apply liquid gasket on both sides at the corner of the curved edge, to the inner threads of the bolt holes and to the inner threads of the oil.
What are the inner threads of the oil?
I guess I will pull it apart and reseal for a third time. I probably need to check the PCV valve as well as I understand that can cause an issue as well.

I am really tired of the leaks in this car. Replaced the passenger axle and it started leaking. Pulled it out and replaced the seal. Still leaking. Was very careful to install carefully and made sure there was plenty of grease and cleaned off every third spline.
I don't know what I am doing wrong. This is my 30th car and have never had leaking issues like this one. But it is my first Honda so maybe it's a Honda thing and I just don't under stand ;o)

 

Buy a gasket for the oil pan:

 

I followed the directions from RonJ's downloads on how to change the gasket, so I am doubtful that it is from the oil pan. What about using dyes to find the leak?