DIY: Resealing a leaky oil pan with Hondbond

Raymond

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My car is a '99 AV6 coupe with 118k miles. I bought it used a few months ago and when I was doing the suspension installation I noticed the underside of the car was lightly coated in dirty oil and found where it had a slight leak from the oil pan.

Did some searching here on V6p and found it was a pretty common issue on these cars, but didn't really find a good "how to" on how to go about fixing it without taking it to a dealer and getting raped on labor charges.

In total this job costed me $30 total.

$15 for the Hondabond HT (honda dealer)
$15 for the 5 quarts of oil and a new Fram filter (sale at Autozone)

Approx time needed (for a first timer like me): 4-6 hours, being generous. It could be done in 1-2 hours.

For the record, this is how I did this on my car, so if someone follows these steps and somehow hurts themself or damages their vehicle, I am in no way responsible. I am not a mechanic, nor a professional.

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*Put the front of the car on jackstands and block the rear wheels - I had both front wheels removed and the car jacked pretty high to give me more room to work.

*I drained the oil over night. Placed a large pan underneath the car and removed the drain plug and the oil filter. I only did this because it got dark the night before when I got started, but if nothing else it assured every drop of oil was drained before I got to work the next morning, and the car was completely cooled off by the time I was down there.

*Dropped the J-pipe. I didn't completely remove it from the catalytic converter, just used some long extensions and a ratchet to get to the bolts on the exhaust manifolds front and rear and dropped it down onto the floor. There were three bolts on each, so six total. If you wanted to completely remove it from the cat that would have been another three bolts - but I didn't find that necessary. You'll also need to unplug the front 02 sensor, one small bolt holds it up.

*Removed all one million oil pan bolts. There's a lot down there, but it's pretty straightforward. I loosened them all first and then removed them from the center, outwards. There are two hidden underneath a dust shield on the side that connects to the transmission, I didn't know that until I got down there. There's also two larger bolts that connect to the transmission itself that need to come off.

*I used a very thin screwdriver to pry the oil pan off the car. They say not to do this but as long as you're gentle I really doubt you can hurt anything, I didn't! Since the old sealant is still on there the pans not just going to drop down when you remove the bolts. A little prying on one side and we were able to get it off.

*It came right down, nothing was in the way, no brackets or frames, just turn it a little sideways and you have plenty of room to drop it down.

*Clean! I cleaned everything, made the bottom of the car spotless. If nothing else but to please my OCD, but also to make it easier to tell if it's leaking in the future. I cleaned the pan inside and out, and the underside of the car where the oil had leaked all over before.

*Scrape! Make sure you scrape all the old gasket off the oil pan, and the bottom of the engine. This will assure a nice, smooth surface for the new Hondabond to sit. I used a fairly smooth metal scraper and some brake cleaner to make sure it was all off.

*Then apply a nice even bead of Hondabond to the oil pan. I probably used more than needed, but if you buy the Hondabond from a dealership like I did you'll have enough to do 3-4 of these jobs. The stuff is really thick so you shouldn't need TOO much to cover the whole line.

*Then just reverse the process for installation. Put all the bolts onto the oil pan, I started at the corners and worked my way inwards. Ensure they are all tight, check 'em twice if you want.

*Put on the new oil filter, and put the drain plug back into the pan.

*Reattach the J-pipe to the exhaust manifolds, and plug in the 02 sensor.

*Put the wheels back on, etc etc.

*Wait a few hours for the Hondabond to "settle." I'm not sure how much this is really needed but a few people on the forums suggested it so I followed suit. Once I was finished to this point I cleaned up, put the tools away, took a shower, ate lunch, etc etc.

*Go ahead and put in 5 quarts of oil, fill 'er up!

*Start the car, drive it around, whatever - no more oil leak!

*Just to be cautious, like I was, check underneath the car every now and then for a while after you do the job just to make sure it's not leaking. It shouldn't but I'm overly cautious about stuff like this.

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At this point I'm pretty mad I didn't think to take pictures during the process, to help aid whoever might go ahead and do this themselves. But in all honesty it's pretty easy so as long as you've got the tools, some common sense, and some free time you should be good. It also helps to have another person helping you!
 

reydio

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Awesome write up, for your future oil filter change, use NAPA, Wix or OE Filter. They are way better than FRAM.
 

Russianred

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Ray! Dank write-up man, this is good for those fixing a leak, or even for those tapping their oil pan for turbo! :D
 
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donco

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Good info. Thanks! Just did mine yesterday. 175k miles, the pan was leaking like a sieve. I did the VTEC solenoid gasket on the oil filter casting prior to this. The old gaskets were hard and brittle and were also leaking.

I went ahead and removed the down pipes at the back of the cat, just to get it clear out of the way. I also supported the engine from underneath with a bottle jack on a block of wood under the A/C compressor and removed the passenger side motor mount and jacked the engine up a couple inches to get better access to the bolts on the end of the pan above the subframe. It also helped giving more clearance to drop the pan to clear the oil pick up. I also removed the right front wheel and pried the plastic inner fender liner back. There are a couple places on the pan which have extended bosses the are a safe place to use a pry bar without risking scratching the seal surfaces. The old original Honda sealant was hard and brittle and discolored and scraped of easily. There were obvious signs where it was leaking near the transmission interface. I'm so glad the rear main seal wasn't leaking.

CRC Pro-Duty degreaser works really well for cleaning, rinses with tap water and leaves no residue and has no lingering odor:

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I've had very good luck in the past with Permatex "Right Stuff" sealant, never had a leak with it on anything.

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Just be sure whatever you use it on is something you don't plan to ever take apart again because it sticks like epoxy.

Follow-up: As fate would have it, it's still leaking but not quite as much. Not from the pan but from the front plate/oil pump casting. Looks like I'll be doing this job over again when I do the timing belt. The pan must be removed to remove the front plate -- oh well. I removed the timing belt cover and could see the belt is dry and no signs of leaking at the harmonic balancer seal. The timing belt is in good condition.
 
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