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Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Ok, so I took the car down to a mechanic to get the oil, and recently developed small gas leak fixed on the ol' Honda. Just got off the phone with him, and he's not even really willing to work on the car. Said he thinks the oil leak may actually be coming from the crank case seal, or oil balancing shaft...said he thought there were kits available, said he seems to recall it being something he's seen as a problem with honda's before. Tells me I should find more info on it. Hence, he doesn't want to do it.

Then it's on to the gas leak. Oh boy. He's not quite sure what it is, said he'd have to drop the tank to check any further, see if the lines are rusted, something about adding another line, could need a new sending unit, etc. etc. Basically, he dosen't know, and won't give me a price range it could cost to fix it other than "more than the car is worth, honestly. It could just keep escalating". I was, at least, able to pry a name out of him of another mechanic that is more Honda savvy. Figure I'll call the guy, see if he'll look at it. Also thought I'd post here, see if anyone has experience with these issues, or insight as to how to fix them without it costing multiple paychecks.

The gas seems to form roughly around the same spot the oil leaks, which is a few inches centered off the back of the front drivers tire. I wouldn't say it's a huge leak, still getting 20+mpg easy, drove for about 2 weeks with it leaving small puddles(of gas, oil has been since I bought it), but I'd rather get it fixed than drive it 'till the engine blows from fluid problems, or the car simply blows up with me in it. I have decent ADD insurance from work and state farm, but the problem with that scenario is not being able to spend the money because you're accidently dead or disfigured. :P

I would jack the car up look at the area behind the tire whaere the gas and oil are andd see if any rubber hoses are there that may be cracked. I drove hondas for years and if you can't 300k miles from 1 then there is something wrong. Go to a car wash jack the thing up clean every spot you can then drive home and see where the oil is coming from.

you could go to a reputatable shop around your area and ask for a diagnosis. Most decent shops won't charge you much, if anything to find out where your leaks are coming from. As far as the oil leak goes, How much oil are you losing? If you're putting a quart in every other week, i'd just ride it out. The fuel leak is something that's a bit more serious. Obviously, it is never safe to drive a vehicle leaking fuel. I'm kinda surprised that this "mechanic" would be so lazy about fixing a fuel leak. Why would he have to lower the gas tank if your leak is coming from the front? You might just have a part of your line that's rotted away. A simple sectioning and replacing with compression fittings and nylon fuel line would repair that.

Seriously though, this guy is turning away work. That's not right. He must have enough people's cars to work on to turn away a potential buck.

I just don't think the guy knew where to start. I got a mechanic's name and number from him though that is good with hondas. Mentioned to a friend of mine and he knew exactly who I was talking about, and where the guy worked before, etc. etc. Anyways, going to have to wait until Monday morning because I got distracted by some beer and good company yesterday. The oil is a quart every 4ish days, so I'm really just looking to get both problems fixed, at a reasonable rate. Maybe he can do a thing or two about my ABS, that'd be a nice little extra.

Troubleshooting can be really tricky sometimes. It's best to start at your cheapest possible solution first and work your way up. I'm noticing that i'm able to diagnos issues alot quicker than i used to. I think it has something to do with being out of the industry for a while. My heads a bit clearer.

Just don't let some hick work on your car.

Bringing it to that other guy in the morning, more info to come.

Ok, so I didn't write everything down, but basically...this is going to hurt.

Few busted seals, oil is actually coming out the side of the engine. Onto the timing belt. Doh. Guy said while he was in there replacing the seals, I should have the belt and water pump (because apparently I got antifreeze leak...because the pump is driven or near the timing belt?) replaced. No sense paying for labor twice.

Also, previous owner or mechanic had tightened up the oil pan, presumably to make the seal last a bit longer. That needs to be dropped, and seal replaced, but he said it was one of the few things that could wait, though I'll still be leaking some oil.

Onto the gas leak...guess the last guy made some sense afterall, it's a bracket that's rusted where the flexline coming from the tank meets with the solid line to the engine. This guy said he can fix it without taking out the tank, has done it many times, will cost about $170.

As far as the rest of the work, $900 range. Said the oil pan gasket is about 2 hours of work, dropping it down to around $700. So including the gas line, we're talking near $900 to get it all fixed.

Oh, and as far as the brakes go, apparently the last place I brought the car only machined the back rotors, not all four like I had asked. Meh, I hate cars.

Hit me up with any thoughts, only have about half the money available, though got a bonus coming and it's a 3rd paycheck may for me, so hoping I can convince pops to let me drop the other half on his credit card. Told the guy I'd get back to him tomorrow morning.

I really undercharge people for the work i do. I'm assuming this guy is at a shop somewhere. That's probably about $200 bucks worth of parts give or take $50 or so. Replacing crank seals and timing seals is kinda time consuming and slow paced. Dude's making some cash off ya, but not too much concidering he's gotta work in such tight closures of a Honda. I seriously need to adjust my hourly rates.

which would leave me with about a grand to fix anything.



When i first started readin this i thought alright he's with budget. I guess the brakes cost you a few hundred.

I knew this car was too good to be true. I haven't ever seen a Honda that wasn't a giant hole to throw lots of money into. So your $1600 car is now $2700 (so far), you might want to fix the major issues, and sell it for as much as you can get, and buy soemthing that is going to be require not so much work...