1994 Acura Integra oil disappearing?

Hi cborden,

Thank you for the donation.

Honda engines would not have any problem with oil leaking from the head gasket. If it is from the front end, ie near the timing belt side, most likely source would be the camshaft seals or valve cover gasket near the camcarriers. During installation, sealant have to be applied at the corners of the valve cover gasket to prevent leaking.

For exhaust fumes to smell strongly of gas, there are many possible causes.

If the injectors are dumping in too much gas, the spark plugs would be sooty and you would have erratic idling issues. Starting would be affected as well.

A bad catalytic converter, O2 sensor, Throttle Position Sensor, clogged air filter, fuel pressure regulator ( this item seldom fails for Honda), clogged fuel return hoses are some of the possible items.

Piston rings can go bad at high mileages so is a possibility with your case but after replacement of the valve seals, do you still have oil consumption issues? Do you have a lot of grey exhaust smokes at high rpm?

If too much fuel is being dumped into the cylinders and cleaning up the piston rings, you would have compression and difficult or non starting issues.

Note : I have seen very few honda engines with problem on pistons rings.

Is the performance of the engine as good or better than replacement of the valve seals and head gasket?

Recheck the timing belt installation. A off time cog can cause erratic idling and strong exhaust fumes and performance issues.

The head gasket is the steel type and if it is not torqued correctly, the engine would be running badly.

At the front there are no oil pressurized passages but if the cam seals are leaking, the oil would drip down and out to the front.

A bad cat might not throw any codes and if fuel is being dumped through the cat, it would run red hot.

Was the ignition timing checked?

The black trail indicates the cat is not working correctly.

Does the exhaust emit grey smoke at initial start up, maybe a few nimutes after starting up?

Is the leak very bad?

How many miles have you driven the vehicle after oil replacement?

Adjustable cam sprockets means the valve timing might not be accurate and that can cause the timing to be off and that can result in the incomplete combustion.

The liquid leaking from between the tran and engine area could be from the distributor or its O ring.

You might need a thicker grade oil if the one that you are using is being depleted too fast.

Ignition timing is the time the spark fires and is affected by the distributor position.

If the cam seals are not properly installed, it can leak quite badly. You would need to remove the valve and timing cover to have a visual inspection.

You are right about the cam seals not leaking judging by the picture.

Ignition timing is adjusted by turning the distributor clockwise or anti clockwise. If the timing is too advanced or retarded, it can cause performance difference.

Yes, the distributor has to be removed to replace the O ring.

The recmmended oil is 10 W30. You can try 20/W50.

For the camshaft sprockets, they have to be adjusted to get the correct valve timing. Our database do not have the specifications for the valve timing.

Is there any oil stains below the VTEC valve? The cam end cover would tend to leak as well. Unless leaking is noticed, if not it is not going to cause the oil to disappear.

No, 20/W50 is not really drastic. In fact for slightly temperate regions that is the recommended grade.

The distributor is only installed in one position but the tightening points are slotted so the distributor can be turned clockwise or anticlockwise to a certain degrees. A timing light is required to check the correct position.

The timing mark is at the pulley.

With timing mark clipped to 1st cylinder spark plug wire, aim the mark at the pulley. You would notice the mark on the pulley. Match the center mark of the 3 close slots to get the correct ignition timing.

The VTEC valve tends to leak when the gasket hardensover time.

The 3 conditions/areas that causes oil depletion are :

1. Oil leaks from seals, drain plug, oil filter or gaskets. Leak have to be substantial and easily visible to cause the condition.

2. Bad valve seals. Though they have been replaced, there is no guarantee that it could not be the cause. Quality of the seals and installation error can be a factor. For this condition, grey smoke would be emitted during abrupt revving of the engine if the exhaust valves are bad as the oil is being discharged directly into the exhaust system. For intake seals to be bad, the smoke emision would be at a lower rate as the oil is being burnt in the cylinders before being discharged.

3. Worn piston compression and/or oil rings. This would result in the high blow-by gases in the crank ventilation system and oil would be discharged to the air intake hose from the valve cover ventilation hose or the PCV valve into the intake manifold.

If it is only high blow-by, smoke emission would not be high as the oil is being mixed with the air to be burnt in the cylinders.

If it is the oil rings that are bad, smoke would be visible under high rpm loaded conditions.

If leaking is the only cause of the oil depleting, rectifying the leak would solve the problem. If you get under the vehicle, you would notice that the lower portion would be damp with oil dripping onto the floor after running the engine.

Whether replacing the VTEC gasket solves the problem or not would depend on whether it is the only cause.

It would cause oil pressure and/or noise problem but not depletion of oil.