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2007 Oil Leak - First Ever In a Honda

3006 Views 101 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  plplplpl, 
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I think it’s the front valve cover gasket, and I was able to crank some valve cover bolts a tiny bit more. I was surprise how tight they were.

Is this a common issue? Might mine be over tightened from previous valve adjustment or timing belt service?

It’s got ~160,000 miles on this 2007 AWD EXL.

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Pretty easy to take off the front valve cover. If you have never opened it up before, and just the front is leaking, I'd check the PCV valve while you are at it. I see some mess under the car from your video, when engine mates to the transmission. Hopefully a clogged PCV didn't blow out your rear main seal.

Get a Mahle valve cover gasket kit, and replace the front valve cover gasket, tube seals, and grommets. You may want to check valve clearances while the patient is open. If the rear (Bank 1) valve cover gasket is fine, leave it alone, as you would have to take off the intake to get to it.

It is very important to use a torque wrench when tightening the bolts, as it is very easy to overtighten and flatten/pancake the gasket, and/or break the bolts. You don't need a lot of force to properly tighten then with a "new" gasket in place. Cranking down the bolts on old and hardened gaskets may make it worse. If you don't have a torque wrench, use 1/4 inch drive, choking up on the wratchet, or using a T-handle.
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In your pictures where you circled in Red, where you thought it was leaking, is that a port clogged with Carbon? I'd use a pick and clean that out. Make sure you clean the mating surfaces, either use scotch brite kitchen sponge, emory cloth, etc.

To get the tube seals out, 12:00 into the video is an example of how I did them. I have a set of different size prybars like that from HF. Don't worry about scuffing up the outside area of the tube seals, the new ones will seal it. You will need something that is wide enough, a normal screwdriver head will make a mess of it, as you already know.

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mknmike said:
I really don’t like the way that guy pried on those potentially denying the internal surface using it as a fulcrum and also scratching his screwdriver along the sealing surface. As you can see I made a mess of part of the valve cover, but it’s a part that is completely external to the seal unlike what the dude did in the video.

I say “NO NO” to this guy’s method. If his seals were anywhere as tight and rigid as mine his method wouldn’t even work either because the method requires the seal come out at an angle.
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I did this on both my Accords, my Pilot, and a coworkers Accord and CRV. Yes they were tight, but it was much easier using those prybars than my Lisle Seal puller. The sealing surface in on the inner ring, which goes around the spark plug tube. The outside sealing surfaces that the outer part of the tube seals mates against is not going to affect anything with a little marring. Now, if that were a crank or camshaft seal, you need to be VERY careful with what you are doing, as you mar the cam or crank, you are done, but the outside surfaces, not so much.

Exactly how much car wrenching experience do you have, and what type of tools do you have at your disposal? I don't want to throw you into the deep end if you have never done this kind of work before.
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royalbiggster said:
EGR passages and ports, internal oil channels and ports, Throttle body.
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Not the same with the 06-08 Pilots and the Ridgeline with the J35A9, than with the 03-05 Pilot engine.
I've seen the posts where people had clogged passages on the 03-05, and when I took off the intake plenum cover, it was a different design on my 07 than on the 03-05. Different grooves, not nearly as susceptible to gumming up with crud. Still wouldn't be that hard to check, but not as critical on his Pilot and Ridgeline with the J35A9.

NailGrease has a boilerplate list of things to do on these, especially for those that just purchased one, and also a good list, with intervals, to look after when doing your own work - ATF drain and fills, front transfer case, VTM drain and fill, brake fluid replacement, power steering flush (with updated O-ring), spark plugs, PCV, air filter and tube (if cracked), MAF/MAP cleaning (depending on year), always the TB every 100k along with waterpump and new coolant, leaks from rocker arm oil control solenoid assembly (replace the gasket), etc..
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mknmike said:
Yeah. I’m a little worried that my oil pan seal is blown out too. Yesterday was a wash out. So I didn’t get a chance to check to see if I solved all my oil leak problems, and today my wife is gone with the car until late tonight. So maybe tomorrow I will discover if I’ve solved my leaks or not.
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This video showing the leaks near the crank pulley/oil filter/oil pan could either be needing an oil pump reseal (essentially a TB replacement with a bunch of extra work to reseal the oil pump), or could be the rocker arm control solenoid assembly filter/gasket (easiest and likely first thing to check - what the oil filter is attached to).
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mknmike said:
TOOLS:
I have been utterly disappointed in the local Honda dealership service. Their parts department is great, but the service center never suggested replacing the PCV. It’s been several years since I’ve taken the car to my brother’s brother-in-law who has an independent shop. He scaled back and doesn’t have any mechanics other than himself.
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You should not be taking your vehicles of this age to a dealer for ANYTHING. If you aren't doing the work yourself with the help from these forums, then look for a reputable local INDY shop that specializes in Honda. Every area has them.
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royalbiggster said:
You looked at one piece of the puzzle on those EGR systems The channels on top were redesigned so they wouldn't build up with carbon, but the ports between the channels and the EGR still does. Many overlook it, and clean the channels and still have the problem, and can't figure out why. It is a circular system. Exhaust to EGR to intake, to cylinder, to exhaust again. Carbon usually builds up between the EGR and the Intake. It is less likely on the later models to clog on both though, but still clogs.
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You are correct. I checked mine when taking off the intake plenum last year when doing a valve adjustment on the rear (Bank 1). There was minimal buildup, certainly nothing that completely clogged it up. It did not look like what I've seen on the 03-05 Pilots, similar engines on the Odyssey.
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mknmike said:
Leaks suck.
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You've been busy, I love it.
What I'd probably recommend now, to see exactly where the leaks are coming from, it to clean the engine a bit. I'd use something like Simple Green Motorsports cleaner (white and blue bottle), which is safe on aluminum. Spray it all over the areas that have oil on them, then lightly rinse them off with a hose (spray, not stream). Use the vehicle for a few days, then look to see exactly where any remaining leaks are originating from. You don't want to chase anything that may have been resolved with what you just replaced. It will also help determine the rate of leakage and/or seepage. Seepage you can leave with, leaks that drip on the driveway not so much.

One of the other areas I saw in your videos, where engine and transmission meet, there is a black inspection plate, held on by 1 or 2 10mm bolts. Pull that off and you'll see the bottom of the flywheel. If it is covered in oil, that may be an indication of a rear main seal leak. If not, it may be oil pan or something else above dripping down through there.
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Drips coming from AC compressor area may be the oil pump seepage. Outside of the PCV valve and valve cover gasket, I can't think of anything else above that area that could leak oil.
If you had more leaks dropping from the rear on that side, in the area of the oil filter housing, I'd say it was the gasket for that solenoid.
But when I had seepage/leakage on mine, pretty much that whole side had a nice coating of oil on it, but no drip marks in the driveway.
Had I known what I know now, the second TB change at 200k I would have resealed the oil pump while I was at it, knowing I was going to attempt to keep the vehicle for 300k-400k.
Either way, as you can see, you do need to hose down all areas with degreaser, lightly spray off, then see if you can find out exactly where that oil is coming from.
On mine, I was worried the leaking oil pump would contaminate the TB, but found that it was leaking from the engine side of the oil pump, and the lower TB cover has a rubber gasket on it that was keeping it from getting into the TB area. Resealed the oil pump and replaced the crank seal, which was easy enough to remove once the oil pump was off the car. I didn't touch the cam seals, as they were fine, but have them if they are leaking in a couple years when I get to do the job again at 300k.

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Yes, there is an oil pickup tube coming off the bottom of the oil pump, in the oil pan. That is not your issue here. As mentioned, I can't think of anything else on the passenger front side of the engine, above the AC compressor, that could be leaking at this point, assuming the pcv valve and valve cover gasket was done properly, other than the oil pump. If it was the rear on that side, you would be able to see a mess around the rocker arm oil control solenoid, which is a gasket that does get hard with age and leaks.

I'd say give it a few hundred miles to gauge the extent of the current leak, and where it could be coming from. Can't remember your mileage, or when the TB was last done, but if you were doing that in the near future, you would be able to expose everything around the oil pump to see where it is leaking from. If that is the case, a reseal would be needed. If the leak isn't that bad any longer, and you can live with some minor drip marks, just keep on going with it.

Outside of valve cover gaskets, there are the cam cover caps on the other side of the engine, but I didn't see any leaks from there on your vehicle. You would see the front cap right behind the EGR valve. Your issue is from the passenger side though, and I don't remember much else over there besides what I already mentioned.
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Are you saying you are not seeing any leaks from the drivers side of the engine, after hosing it all down? It is all on the passenger side?

Yes, you are a bit shy on the mileage, but TB service is every 105K OR 7 years, whichever comes first, so not sure how long ago the TB was replaced.
If it is in need of the oil pump needing a reseal, then just get the Aisin kit and replace it all.
That will likely last the remaining life of the vehicle.
With the pump reseal, you'll replace the crank seal as well. It should keep things dry going forward.

Here is a link to my last post on it: 2008 with Oil Leak
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If it is coming from the crank pulley area, it is almost a 100% guarantee that you'll have to reseal that oil pump.
There is a ZERO percent chance that AT-205, that is ALWAYS recommended by certain members, is going to help you here.
There are things that it can help with, but not here. Pisses me off every time I see them recommend it for EVERY kind of leak, I assume they are joking, but really gets under my skin.

You'll have to take off the oil filter housing anyways to take it all off, so you'd be replacing that gasket as well, so that whole side of the engine would be sealed up, as you'd be replacing the crank seal as well.
One other thing to look at before you tackle that job, unrelated to your leak, with the engine running, look at the crank pulley while rotating, and see if it wobbles at all, if so the rubber in the crank pulley may be deteriorating, and would need to be replaced. Didn't really notice that with mine until just north of 200k, as you don't want to wrestle with that crank pulley bolt more than once, unless you have the Lisle socket and a good impact wrench.
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