Hey, first post. Hope it's not too 'tarded. My finance's 97 Accord LX has a slightly leaky valve cover gasket. I just did a tune-up on (oil change, spark plugs) since the weather has been too poor too mess with the gasket. When I took the old plugs out, I noticed the upper portion was covered in oil (but not the spark-end). In each chamber there appears to be oil leaking at the gasket. I'm not too tech savvy, but I think I can cover this. Should I just change the valve cover gasket? It seems like it's a pretty easy procedure on this car...

Thanks for verifying whether or not I have diagnosed this correctly.

 

That's pretty common. Valve cover gasket "set" should come with 4 round seals for the sparkplug tubes. Pay attention to how they go right-side-up or upside-down.

Less common, there's another set of seals further down those sparkplug tubes. It's a set of O-rings underneath the camshaft bearing caps. I wouldn't replace those unless the upper ones don't work.

If you need the lower seals, they often come in the VC gasket set too. Find a shop manual for the procedure to dismantle the rocker assemblies. It's a lot more than just a VC gasket.

The lower seals are #19 in this picture.

 

Hey, thanks a ton for the reply. I've done the valve cover gasket on my 99 Civic (D16Y7). I imagine it's pretty similar: just remove spark plugs and all attached wires, remove valve cover, peel / scrape old gasket material, and replace new gasket using liquid gasket where it was originally applied (I believe passenger side). Sound about right? Any recommended gasket sealant?

 

Permatex Ultra-Grey is supposed to be the same as the "Honda-Bond" that the shop manual calls for.

Only a little tiny bit of that stuff right where the gasket has a sharp corner to go up over the camshaft bearing caps (both ends).

 

Getting ready to re-install the valve cover with a new gasket kit. Do you apply the Hondabond to the cylinder head side in these locations?

 

Yes.....let is sit for a bit then install cover.

 

Yep ... that's what I did. Instructions on the Hondabond label says to let it sit for a minute I believe. I waited at least 5 minutes.

 

Here are a few pics of the valve cover installation. I bought the entire gasket kit (PN 12030-PT0-000) which includes the VC gasket, plug tube seals and cover washers. Pretty straight forward job. Hardest part was removing the vacuum hose and freeing the cover, which tends to bond with the cylinder head. A tap with a rubber mallet will free it up.