Oil Leak - Advice Needed?

[cvtonly1]

I have a 2002 Honda Insight with 84,165 miles on the car. I recently was told by the Honda dealer that i have two oil leaks. One leak is coming from the right engine mount bracket bolts area. The other leak was found between the transmission and engine possibly the rear main seal. Honda cannot tell how much oil is leaking. I did not do any repairs because of the cost. Rear Main Seal - around $1000.00 and Right Engine Mount Bracket - $150.00. I thought i could just monitor my oil consumption regularly and add oil when needed. Are there any threads on this? Also, is this rare to have this problem so soon? Any help would be appreciated!!

[Jivko57]

I have some minor leak on the right side of the engine since i got the car, wold love to get rid of it but there are many other things that need to be taken care of before that, since the oil level is in norm by the time I have to change it, the leak is not bothering me. Most probably i will need to change the engine before taking care of that leak...
I think that the leaks are usually due to the rubber deterioration with age and the miles come second.

[Eli]

Insight #2 leaks from the rear main seal. I'd like to get it fixed at some point, but the leak isn't very bad so I'm not too concerned about it. The reason it costs so much at the stealership is because you have to remove the transmission and IMA motor.

It's interesting to note that it's not the seal that leaks, but between the seal and the crankcase that leaks. It's more of a weep.

[jeff652]

Both of the Insight engines I have have the leak near the right engine mount. It's typically the head gasket that weeps in that area, not the mount or oil seal

[cvtonly1]

Have you had to replace any of your seals? How many miles are on your Insight?

[gilbertguy]

If it isn't leaving oil puddle on the ground I would just monitor your oil level and not worry about it. My car weeps between the engine and transmission (rear seal?) but it only leaves a drop or two on the ground every couple of hundred miles so not really worth tearing the whole thing apart for.

When I bought the car at 240,000 miles the engine was pretty dirty with a lot of oil residue, after degreasing the engine and cleaning it up I replaced the valve cover gasket since I needed to adjust the valve clearance anyway. I now have 263,000 miles on it and the engine has since stayed pretty clean and all that nasty oil on the engine it had when I first bought it has not come back. (other then the weep mentioned earlier, but that is on the bottom of the engine)

[Eli]

It's a little misleading. I was somewhat alarmed by all of the oil and gunk in the IMA motor casing. It had obviously been leaking for quite a while. The good thing is that the IMA motor shields the clutch from getting oil on it. The bad thing is that I don't know what the oil is doing to the IMA motor.

Like you, I only get a few drips on the ground.. still something I would like to get fixed, but it probably won't happen until a clutch or other transmission issue comes up, so probably another 200,000 miles lol.

[cvtonly1]

Thanks to all of you who replied to this thread. It looks like these oil leaks should only be minor. I will keep you posted if the leaks become a major problem.