After removing the head on my 92 Accord I noticed two damaged parts, one is a broken spring on one of the rocker arm shafts, and one is a damaged-looking seal on the camshaft.
Here's photos:










Questions:
1. If I manage to be able to acquire a replacement for the broken spring, what's involved as far as getting taking the rocker arm assembly apart so I can put a replacement on? How does that shaft pull out/apart anyway so I can get the broken one off and then slip a replacement on? Also, although ideally of course it would be best to replace the broken spring, how much risk (realistically) might there be of ignoring this broken spring and not bothering to repair?


2. What specifically is the nicked/damaged seal there on the camshaft called? I'm planning on ordering a head gasket set and I wonder if that seal is typically included among the gaskets/seals included in the set.

 

Haven't done this myself, but the parts drawing looks like there's notches in that rocker shaft. I'm tempted to say it's as simple as removing the bolt right there by your fingers. Then the last bearing-cap will come off & you can remove the spring. But the last intake rocker will also come loose, along with it's shaft which is in small segments instead of one long shaft. Keep the parts from flying apart when you do this...

The seal would be called the camshaft oil seal. Don't know whether it would be part of a headgasket set, it was NOT included in the gasket set I got for 1998 4-cyl. But it's a good question for whoever you buy the gasket set from.

 

Probably (and hopefully) you're correct and all I need to do is remove that bolt there by my fingers which will allow that last bearing cap to come off, and as you say I'll just need to be careful about letting the intake rocker parts from flying (or otherwise losing track of their positions/locations if they come loose). Fortunately I found the exact Honda part number for that particular spring and it's inexpensive so I can probably fix this relatively easily and cheaply.

The Fel-Pro gasket set I'm ordering from Amazon I think I'll try calling Fel-Pro to see whether the camshaft oil seal is included in the set. Probably not but won't hurt to ask.

Thanks for your helpful reply.
By the way, do you mind telling me the source for where you got that cylinder head parts breakdown diagram you posted. Somewhere online available for anyone?

 

Many dealers have on-line parts ordering, here's one example
(Majestic Honda isn't a sponsor so I can't make an ACTIVE link)

www dot hondaautomotiveparts dot com
click "parts"
put in your car's information
select "cylinder head" as the category

PS... that cylinder head gasket set I got was a FELPRO brand & it did not include the camshaft seal.

 

Thanks JimBlake for the link info. And yep I called FELPRO and nope as you say that seal is not included.

Edit: By the way, do you mind telling me the source for where you got that cylinder head parts breakdown diagram you posted. Somewhere online available for anyone?

 

You must not have looked at that website I mentioned... that's where I get the parts-pictures.

Several different online parts-ordering places all seem to have the same pictures, so I suspect they come from Honda's electronic parts catalog. That's what the dealer parts-counter guy uses these days instead of microfiche...

 

Ah, I see. Thanks again.