i am haveing oil leak from my distributor cap wat can be the problem i need help

 

First thing is to tell us is what kind of car you're talking about? 72 Pinto? Honda has been making Accords since about 1977 and (surprise!) they're not all exactly the same.

If it's leaking from INSIDE the distributor, you probably need a new distributor. The official Honda story is that the seal inside the distributor is not replacable. People have found replacement seals, but it's not a real easy job with the sensors inside there.

The easy seal to replace is the O-ring at the base of the distributor. But that would leak down the side of the head, it wouldn't leak from inside the distributor cap.

 

When checking my distributor cap today I got oil on my fingers while trying to loosen the third bolt. How do you tell if it's leaking oil internally or it this just the O ring? It's a Honda Accord lx 1995 btw.
Thanks

 

If there's oil draining from the cap, the internal oil seal (shaft seal) is bad.

If the oil is running down the cylinder head under the distributor, the o-ring sealing the distributor nose to cylinder head is leaking.

Yours seems likely to be the o-ring, but a 15 year old car, both may be leaking.

I've replaced the inner seal, and it's not a terrible job, but a bit tedious. If you're interested PM me for pdf instructions for inner oil seal replacement.

good luck

 

Wow! Lots of info.
From what I've read, I understand that the leak in my distributor is likely due to the "seal" and not the "o-ring". I've found the seal on various "stores" for the 4cyl, but hit a vacuum when trying for the v6. Does anyone know where to get the inner distributor seal for the v6? if not, does anyone know what the specifications are for the seal so I can go look for it? I really do not want to buy a new distributor if I can possibly avoid it.

Okay, I'm kind of at then end of my patience, hence the questions here. So, i'm also amenable to other suggestions. I'm still looking at 6 more threads, but this one seemed pertinent. I may (and if this is a faux pax please let me know), keep asking on the different threads.

thanks,
teah

 

If you're determined to replace the inner oil seal, disassemble the distributor and find the seal. You can measure ID, OD, and thickness and order a replacement. That's what I did for an Acura 2.5TL which has a smaller seal than the Accord. I found the seal at rocket seals online catalog.

You may want to buy a used distributor to have a "backup" in case you run into problems. You should be able to find one for < $50 using car-part.com to search near your zip code.

good luck

 

Just wanted to let anyone know that getting the replacement distributor would have made life much less difficult, albeit more than 90% more expensive. So, if you have the funds, go for the replacement distributor. But, note that we did get a seal and so far, the leak is gone.

Thanks for the insight on rocket seals. We needed to actually speak with someone and were really lucky they had something in stock that was usable

 

Thanks for posting your results. I'm glad it worked out.

Can you post the dimensions or part number you used in case someone else with a 95-97 V6 has the same problem?

 

Just in case teahtime doesn't come back to repost, here are the dimensions he posted on another site: OD =22mm; ID=12.43mm; thk=6.42mm. This may help someone else out in the future for a 95-97 Accord V6.

 

The actual seal we were able to get has the following dimension:
OD= 22mm; ID=12mm, thk= 6 mm. They had one that had a thkns of 6.5 mm, but it had a 17 week lead time...

Also, thought i'd give you some other details on the measurements. The dimension I gave for the measured ID was the diameter of the shaft (12.43mm). The seal ID measurement (and this is rough because it still had some flexibility to it) was 12.21mm. The other two dims were close.

Hopefully this information helps someone else as you all have helped me.

I'm off to search for AC leak fixes next...