Fellow FD owners,

I was growing tired of the persistent oil pan leak and was ready to tackle this...again.

I have been reading the multiple threads on resealing the oil pan, and am familiar with the process, so I thought I had things figured out. I think I may have a larger problem...here is the story:

Spent Saturday resealing the oil pan. Dropped the subframe, removed the old oil pan, tapped a few holes on the front cover, cleaned the engine block of old sealant, installed the Banzai Oil Pan studs and oil pan brace, and installed a brand new oil pan. I used Hondabond for the sealant. After I installed the FFE motor mounts (not tightened to spec), I went around the block applying torque specs to the oil pan nuts. When I got back around to the motor mounts, I started to see oil gathering around one bolt on the driver's side motor mount. The oil was easy to see, as I had installed the UV dye to help isolate the leak. As I was going to wait for the Hondabond to dry, I did NOT add oil to the car. I went ahead and torqued the motor mounts to spec in hopes that it was just residual.

I revisit the car Sunday morning and the oil leak is quite noticeable...only from that one motor mount bolt. I was always under the impression that the motor mount passages did not come into contact with oil, correct?

Before I jump to "bad" conclusions, looking for some insight/comments from builders or fellow FD owners that may have experienced this.

The photo is of the driver's side motor mount (looking from front to back)

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/38595750@N07/26080387266/in/dateposted-public/" title="Oil leak from driver&#x27;s side motor mount"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1661/26080387266_09b2c2520d_c.jpg" width="800" height="450" alt="Oil leak from driver&#x27;s side motor mount"></a>

 

The oil pressure regulator is directly above the driver (left) side mount, right near that bolt location

 

This is why I don't like doing oil pan jobs in the car. Not only is it a pain in the ***, but you constantly have residual oil dripping down that can ruin the seal. I prefer to do it on an engine stand where I can flip the motor upside down.

Even then, sealing FD oil pans is primarily voodoo. Nobody has really found any one magic trick that makes it work every time. Good sealant, clean surfaces, straight oil pans, and braces all help, but aren't a guarantee.

BTW, some time back I did a test on a spare iron. Flipped it upside-down, filled all 6 motor mount bolt holes with PB Blaster, and let it sit. The level did not change at all. This tells me there is no oil jacket or anything they go into. Since PB Blaster is so thin and designed to penetrate even small cracks, I'm confident that's the case.

Might be worth just waiting a while for the oil pressure regulator to drain out, also could be some residual oil in the oil filter dripping down as well.

Dale

 

Leave RVT in this bolt hole, then torque the motor mount bolts, the iron can crack at the oil pressure regulator. I have had multiple engines come in with the top portion of the two center bolts broken out from packed RTV.

 

You might have used the wrong Hondabond. Some of them are only semi-hardening.

 

Hondabond ultra flange II is specifically designed for gasket less oil pans. When I reseal my pan I plan on using that. Hope the iron didn't crack from having RTV in the mount bolt hole. Hopefully it's just a bad seal there.

Matt

 

did you install the brace sandwiched between motor and pan or outside the pan?


Mine started to leak, sealed it adding studs and oil pan brace, still leaked; went with xcessive cast oil pan with O-ring, still leaked; added right stuff for imports on the flange outside o-ring groove, Success!

I tapped each and every thread and picked all rtv that the tap didn't clean out, also slightly block sanded all flanges

 

I also redid mine a couple of time. I ended up making little indentations around the bottom of the block with a little staking tool, I also chased every single hole, I added studs to every since one, even the engine mounts. I used the right stuff grey import and I sealed it well. I drove the car around for a while and I noticed a large puddle underneath the car very quickly after driving it. it was also a lot of fluid. It was brown in color and pooled right under the engine mount. Boy was I pissed as hell.

I did some more investigation and found my clutch line was leaking, as I did not believe that is was from the pan with how much work I put into it.

Later I still had a little oil leak. it was running down the engine. This time the leak was from the little hole on the engine block right by the top of the engine. oil would always puddle there. I blocked the hole with some grey rtv and I have zero oil leaks that I can find now. Took a good year to track them all and fix them.