Oil Seal Surface Gouged, part ruined?

[Kurtatron]

Hello Everyone, Happy New Year's Eve.
I've gone and made a mistake. I am deep into trying to fix an oil leak on my 2001 Honda Civic. I've determined finally that the leak is not the cam or crank seal, or oil pan. It's a pesky oil pump o-ring. I've spent the last two days tearing off the timing belt and oil pan. I finally reached the oil pump and used a sharp metal file to remove the cooked-on o-ring. The o-ring was as hard as a rock, but sadly I seriously gouged the surface of the pump while removing the o-ring. the ring literally fractured into many pieces.

What do you guys think? I've already ordered a $25 used oil pump off e-bay but I really don't want to wait until next week to get this car back on the road. Is the part redeemable? Anything I can do to repair the part?

Secondly, how would you have removed the crusted on oil ring without damaging the surface? I don't want to repeat this mistake again. The e-bay pump still has the ring stuck on it.

 

[danez_yoda]

do you have a flat surface you could put some wet and dry sand paper on?

You could put the sealing surface on it and sand it until the gouges are light. They don't look that deep. There is a technique to sanding things like this and keeping the surface flat.

You go in a figure 8 pattern and rotate the part 90 degrees often. Make sure you check the flatness often during the sanding process to make sure it stays flat.

I would start with 400 grit and then 800 grit, work up to 1000 grit. Clean the part with carb cleaner or alcohol to get the metal out.

Lesson learned you use plastic or wood chisels on metal.


Edit, I see you circled the scratches in the deep hole. Find some oil proof RTV or silicone and smear in there. consider it a one time use part.

 

[Boomer]

You might even try a light coat of JB Weld after thoroughly cleaning the surface and then sanding it down until only the filled scratches can be seen.

 

[nthach]

If the gouge is in the groove, I'd smear on some high-heat epoxy like JB Weld and get it as smooth and level as you can as it will be a pain to work with as it kicks and hardens up. Then use the o-ring as usual once the epoxy is cured.

You can "bed" the o-ring in RTV or Hondabond - but the likelyhood of a leak happening is good with that approach. You might be able to smear a light film of RTV over the gouge and wait for it to cure then install the O-ring dry. O-rings need to compress to seal - RTV on an o-ring can interfere with that.

 

[andyd]

The "dimple" has a raised perimeter. It needs to be removed My DIY seal pullers are sharp sheet rock screws screwed into the seal 180' apart and use pliers to pull evenly. MAYBe some MEK or other aromatic to soften the seal? No more screwdrivers. Use brass

 

[69Torino]

I would wait for the known good part to arrive. Historically, when I rush something, I end up doing it twice.

In the future, use a scraping device softer than the substrate. I use plastic typically. These are fiberglass reinforced plastic...

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted by Kurtatron

Secondly, how would you have removed the crusted on oil ring without damaging the surface? I don't want to repeat this mistake again. The e-bay pump still has the ring stuck on it.

Use a plastic putty knife, credit card or anything else of softer plastic.

 

[69Torino]

You can get a cheaper version of those panel tools at Harbor Freight or even the Help section of autozone or Napa.

 

[spasm3]

It the gouges you are worried about are on the surface. Sand on a piece of glass as suggested above. They don't look that deep so may be a little sanding with 220 wet dry, then 320 then maybe 800.

If its in the groove, make sure there are no burrs, clean it well with berryman b-12 or carb cleaner and then just a little high tack gasket sealer before you put the seal in.

 

[zzyzzx]

I just did this on another car! Except I didn't gouge anything because I used a wooden popsicle stick cut so that the end wasn't curved. Scraped out the brittle oil pump body gasket with this homemade tool.

 

[WyrTwister]

I was thimking J B Weld orsealant , also .

 

[Kurtatron]

Wow, finally put everything back together. I got the part from eBay, installed everything today. What a huge pain this job was. The timing belt and oil pan had to come off to change this little $2 o-ring. It's nuts. I'm so happy the weather was kind enough to let me commute to work on my spare vehicle, a motorcycle. Brrrr.

No leaks so far. It's definitely worth it to wait a few days to make sure the job is done right then get it done sooner only to find the thing still leaks.

I wonder how many people are driving around with their 7th gen civic leaking oil from this same exact part? So much work for so little a fix. I only did this because I don't want to be that rude guest that parks his car at a friend's house and drops oil on their driveway. So inconsiderate of you ask me.

And wow, it's no wonder the thing was leaking so much. The old o-ring literally solidified and came out on chunky fragments. Never seen rubber so brittle before.

 

[Kurtatron]

Originally Posted by 69Torino
I would wait for the known good part to arrive. Historically, when I rush something, I end up doing it twice.

In the future, use a scraping device softer than the substrate. I use plastic typically. These are fiberglass reinforced plastic...


Look what I used this time to extract the o-ring

 

[Exhaustgases]

It looks like small chunks of oring in the circled picture, the scratch on the outside is not a sealed area is it?

 

[Oro_O]

Thanks for making this post, by the way.

I have been tuning up a 182k mile 2003 civic for a starter car for my step-son. I fixed that silly rear cam plug (o-ring from Ace, easy fix but what a silly design). I can tell it has an oil leak up front but not terrible. I was guessing cam seal but your experience is very instructive to me. It is not leaking badly, and I have it all driving/running nicely now so I'm going to belay that work until spring and the weather is dry and warm.

BTW, I also found a $4 permanent fix for the rocking driver's seat, and a nice way to re-condition the transmission seals to increase the line pressure and get it back to peppy performance (and hopefully keep the AT working a good long time more). PM me if you have those issues.