Estimate to fix oil leak too high?

I was just quoted $1,500 to fix an oil leak, they claim, after
dropping dye to locate leaks, I'm leaking from the following:

Reseal oil pan,
Replace Timing belt, water pump, and front engine seals,
Replace rear main seal.

OK, my car has close to 200K, but is it possible all spots are leaking
at once?

Thanks,

--jp

 

How bad is the leak?

At two bucks a quart, $1500 = 750 quarts. If you're adding a quart a week,
your break even point on the repair is 15 years out. Bet you'll have a new
car way before that ;-)

 

Supposedly, the mechanic said my timing belt might snapped causing
more damage, or the oil pan could just fail, spilling out all the
oil.

--tj

 

Yes.

At only 200k, your car should not be leaking from ANY of those spots. But
that depends on your oil change regimen.

 

Is there oil on the belt right now? Is it pooling in the lower timing belt
cover?

Is it just the gasket leaking, or is oil seeping from rust holes in the
pan? If the first, you can drive like this forever so long as the nuts are
snug and you keep a sharp eye on the oil level. If the second, get that pan
replaced now.

 

and the oil.

 

first things first - make sure there's not anything stupid and cheap to
fix like a clogged pcv valve.

then make sure all nuts and bolts are tight.

then change the brand of oil to one with decent seal conditioners in it.

google this group for my experiences and biased opinions on this subject.

 

What about the Timing Belt snapping?

--tj

 

what about it? is it past the mileage or age limits? is it saturated
in oil and showing signs of fraying? is it genuine honda oem?

 

If all of those items are leaking that is probably not a bad price.
Thing is, just how bad are the leaks?

A local dealer told my sister-in-law that the auto transmission, power
steering, and various engine seals and gaskets were leaking, on her '91
Civic. And, that terrible thing would happen if the were not fixed
"immediately."

I asked her this: do you have fluid of any kind leaking on the floor?

Do you continue to "top off" the engine, auto/trans and p/s with
fluid?

Her answer: no

Then continue driving until one of the two occurs.
80K miles later she sold the car and there were still no leaks, or
none bad enough to leak on the floor or add to between changes.

So, I ask you the same:
Do you continue to "top off" the engine, auto/trans and p/s with
fluid?

no: continue driving
yes: get a second opinion for repair cost.

--
Tp,

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Honda interference engines can be damaged (valves bent) if the timing
belt snaps.

Parts-wise, timing belt needs to repalced at regular intervals, but if
the front seal needs to be replaced then it's not unreasonable to
replace the timing belt even before the interval is up (because you
take all that apart to get to the front main seal). And every time you
replace the timing belt, some do the water pump too, and cam seals,
drive belts, idler pulleys. So doing those together sounds reasonable
too. The rear main seal (made of more durable viton rubber) is a
bugger requiring separating the engine/transmission. Is it leaking
that badly?

Do check the PCV valve. Or just get a new one with new grommet at that
mileage. Use high mileage oil and see how things go if the rate is not
too bad. Plugged PCV can cause oil leaks from pressurization of the
crankcase.

If you have to do them, see if you can leave the viton rear main seal.
That way you should be able to cut the price in half (doing only the
comprehensive timing package: drive belts, timing belt, balancer belt,
idler/tensioner pulleys, water pump, cam/crank seals, maybe valve
clearance check/cover gasket set too) plus oil pan gasket.

 

Original belt? Yes, replace. When belt goes away, pistons and valves
come and play. But they don't play nice.

Had a 84 Ford Escort GT throw its belt at about 10K miles. Two
exhaust valves, one intake valve and two pistons. We went to court
with FoMoCo. I can't discuss what came of it, but you can make
inferences based on this statement.

 

1984??? are you not outside the statute of limitations?

besides - what you're alluding to is no secret.

 

No. Sealed is sealed.

The settlement, silly. The one I'm happy with. OTOH, the Escort,
which we kept for another 4 years, was the last Big 3 car we bought.
Carol's 96 Accord was a US built car, but that's not the same thing.

 

OK. Yesterday I brought the car into the shop to have the following
work done:

Replace Front Engine Seals
Replace Timing Belts
Replace Water Pump.
Replace spark plugs

The final bill was for $499 + tax

The work was done in hopes to fix an oil leak, but the oil still
leaks, just less. I was told by the mechanic that the leaks are still
coming from the oil pan and the rear main seal, but there aren't as
many leaks now, and the oil leaking on the timing belt, which was
behind the distributor cap, has been fixed.

The mechanic scared me into thinking the oil leaking on the timing
belt could cause more wear and potentially cause it to snap.

I guess I was due for a new timing belt and after 230K miles the seals
are all probably bad, is this safe to assume, and does this sound like
somebody that knows what he's talking about?

Regards,

--tj

 

have you tried a different brand of oil yet to stop the leak like i
suggested? different oils have different seal conditioners. some
apparently have none judging by the way they make older oil seals leak.

 

I don't have the receipts for that car, but it didn't cost much to
replace the gasket for my 96 Civic's oil pan.

Yeah, getting oil on the timing belt is normally considered "a bad
thing".

Main seals are one of those fuzzy areas. I know folks with cars that
have in excess of 250 K miles and no issues, others with 150 K who
have had to replace them. Why?

 

That's a patch, at best. He needs a solution.

 

my 89 civic leaked oil from the main seal like a mfsob at only 105k
miles. it was literally running out of there. long story short, i
changed the brand of oil i was using, and it stopped a couple of weeks
thereafter. here i am at 176k miles, and the seal i bought to make the
repair is still in my parts box because that engine is simply hasn't
started leaking again.

the moral of the story is, before getting stressed about seal
replacement, change to a brand of oil that has decent seal conditioners
in it. my problem oil was motorcraft. the brand that stopped the leak
was castrol gtx. i'm currently running mobil 1, and no leaks.

 

read my other post. i don't call 70k miles and a totally dry underside
a "patch". and it sure beats having the local wrench jockey screw up
your exhaust manifold studs, bend your transmission input shaft
splitting the box from the motor, stripping treads, using silicone
sealant when they should be using non-hardening, etc., and then having
the same problem again in 50k miles because you're still using crappy oil.