Hi!

I have a 1992 Honda Civic DX 4-door that has been an absolute workhorse with minimal issues. It now has 190,000 miles on it.

Last year about this time, I started a new job and began driving the car about 100 miles a day, so it has been racked up some mileage. A couple of weeks ago, I had the timing belt and water pump replaced as this had not been done since 80,000 miles and I figured why court trouble.

I had a reliable local mechanic who I've been using almost 10 years do the work. Immediately upon getting the car back, I noticed it was leaving two tiny oil spots every day under the driver's side front wheel. As I was bringing it back this past week for front brakes and tires, I had same mechanic look at the leak. He thought it was the crankcase seal and said "oh, easy, crankshaft seal saver kit, one hour installation, no problem."

Famous last words, and the spots have gone from about the size of a quarter to about the size of a baseball. Seems there is no seal saver kit for a '92 Civic, or at least he couldn't come up with one. He replaced the seal and used high temperature silicone caulk. And it took 4 hours, not one, but he didn't charge me for the error in estimating.

I've been reading online and have seen a couple of similar incidents following a timing belt change. I realize that, yes, the crankshaft could indeed be wearing down, but it seems odd that it never leaked any oil at all until the timing belt change.

Anyone else ever run into this? Any suggestions?

Kate in New Jersey

 

I wonder if all the sludge buildup was actually stopping the leak, and once you mess with it, it started leaking...

 

when the timing belt was replaced...did you have the seals under the timing cover replaced??? if not, and the leak is coming from under the timing cover...you'll need to take timing belt off & replace all the seals.