TonyTranAP1

hey guys, glad to be on the site. been a while since i've had something i wanted to work on. my issue is i have an AP1 which is mostly stock minus an intake and some coilovers and aero. but that's neither here nor there. when i bought the car i noted the valve cover leaking so i replaced it with OEM valve cover and spark plug tube seals. cleaned everything, degreased and dried it all. with that out of the the way i drove it again only to smell oil AGAIN as i did some errands with the top down. i popped the hood and found a good squirt of oil on the passenger side of the oil under the oil cooler and so forth. so did some research and a few people noted #23 VTEC switch O-ring failures so got that swapped today. degreased it all again. and after a short sprint around the block, you guessed it, more oil. so my question. does that switch have a diaphragm that could have failed? the INSIDE of the 2 pin connector is full of oil. like drips when i unplug it. thanks in advance.

Tony

Hfreak

Appears to be a leaking pressure switch as you assume. You could adapt some fittings and apply compressed air to the switch to confirm the leak.

I would replace your oil filter with an OEM version and follow the correct installation sequence while you are getting the car in order.

TonyTranAP1

yeah just making sure that was a common thing. i mean, i still don't know what the percentage of failed pressure sensors are. lol but i'll work on getting it up and running again. im going to loop the coolant into itself and run the 19 row cooler that i read on here in a few weeks. but yeah i'll be getting the oil filter from honda once the sensor is swapped now.

Thomas Guide

Hey Tony I just recently swapped out 2 of the 3 gaskets in the VTEC solenoid due to 'weeping' oil, and am about to replace the O ring in the pressure switch as you've done because it's weeping ever so slightly. I write this to say are you sure that the other two gaskets are also not part of the problem as well?

TonyTranAP1

Thanks for the reply, yes when I did the valve cover gasket I made sure to replace the two solenoid gaskets. The leak is coming below the two points up top with no residual oil being left up top. Not to mention the oil inside the plug is kind of leading me to think the switch itself is leaking through

TonyTranAP1

WELL with the help of my dad's advice I took the sensor connector loose and sprayed everything on that side with brake parts cleaner lightly to remove the oil that leaked and after running for about 5 mins at idle the upper VTEC gasket is leaking ever so much around the back side. HOWEVER the plug DOES seem to be accumulating oil inside of itself as my dad suggested leading me to believe the plus is in FACT leaking past it's own diaphragm but also the VTEC solenoid is leaking again. maybe a faulty gasket maybe a bad install. I followed the FSM in torqueing the bolts so I'm not sure that was it, but i'll be sure to triple check the solenoid this time. seems to have only lasted a couple weeks before I really noticed the oil smell. picking up another O-ring and waiting on the replacement upper to come in. thanks for the responses, just wanted to remind everyone they weren't crazy! haha

Soviet

Your oil marks on your subframe looked just like mine! I noticed in your last picture that there is oil above the sensor. I was just about to post that this is likely caused by the upper VTEC solenoid gasket going bad. I'm also the author of the video linked above and I ran into the same issues you did. Oil near the OEM oil cooler, oil near the switch, etc.

What brand of VTEC solenoid gaskets did you use? and how long was it in there for? Lots of people have spoken out about BalladeSports gaskets being very poor performers.