This may be of interest for anyone that changes oil themselves on their Honda. The last two times as much as half a quart of oil leaks. As far as I know, the new oil filter was tightened enough and the oil plug was definitely tight. The oil gage does not alert me.

Anyone else experience this?

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

hang the nose over a curb, crawl under and give the filter a good hand tightening (not wrench tight!), see if it turns- colder weather shrinks everything up.

I get this on the Exploder every now and then- oil change when its hot out, a drip when it gets cold.

From what I remember, there is a colapsable washer for the oil pan drain plug that needs to be replaced with each oil change. Maybe some oil is leaking from here if the washer is not replaced????

Once, my friend and I watched a neighbor change his oil and then drive down the street trailing a line of fresh oil only to have the engine seize. Apparently, he put the filter on and only turned it 1/4 turn and left it hanging there..... Talk about reading the directions and following them to the letter....

Thank you for the replies.

Next oil change I'll consider cranking the engine just before putting the cover back on to check for leaks....

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Exactly as they said!

1. Change that crush washer! (I've got a "drip" because I couldn't find my washer I bought for when I change my oil)

2. It's getting cold - the gasket on the oil filter shrinks in really cold weather


I just discovered I've got a small leak from my front crankshaft seal when I had Wasabi up on a lift during the last oil change. I dread the thought of fixing that.

'00 Insight "Wazabi" -75,000+ miles
'03 Toyota Matrix - 81,000+ miles
'03 HCH-CVT-OSBM-41,000+ miles (retired 04-10-06)
"I'm very secure with my little Insight, no Prius envy here."

-If a half quart of oil is missing you may want to investigate oil consumption. As cars age, and subsequently the rings and cyliner walls are no longer as "tight" oil enters the combustion chamber. For the HCH the "ok" oil consumption is 1 quart per 1000 miles. This seems insane to me, but our older Jetta with 120k miles did lose about that.

-Or, it really was a leak, not consumption, then nevermind.

Have the main seal checked. My mechanic called it the main balancing shaft seal but i'm assuming that is the same thing as the crank shaft. My car isn't a hybrid but I experienced the same thing with my Prelude. I discovered a slow leak when I would check my oil and then when I changed it I noticed a thin film of oil on the oil pan. Then one day, I went to an open house and as I walked from one of the homes I noticed an oil trail that led to my car where I found a puddle of oil under the front driver's side. Checked the oil, still had some in there so I ran it home real quick, luckily I was only a mile away. Turned out that seal finally blew out. The whole underside of my car was coated in oil. Seems like one of them things that start slow and then it blows.

The bright side, had my timing belt and everything changed 30k miles early so now I'm set for another 100k miles. She's got 170k on her now, so hope she makes it.

Just look into it, it can be costly, mine cost $775 to have all the work done at a local tuner shop. But it can save you the headache of getting stranded.