Minor oil leak, need some advice. Help!!
 

Hey guys, I purchased a 96 Honda Accord 2.2L EX recently, and everything seems to be in good condition and working order. The engine has 110k miles on it, timing belt, water pump, recently changed, yadayada. Anyways, in the last few days, I've noticed after driving my car hard, I smell a little bit of oil burning. I checked my dipstick, and I'm noticing a little bit of black residue on the dipstick (only when I wipe it off onto a clean white paper napkin), and I still have 2k miles left before I'm due for my next change.

So today I ran it hard, lifted up the hood, and noticed something I haven't seen before. A small and minor leak appears to be running down from one of the engine casing bolts (10mm) on the top and in the back.. and running down to where the headers are connected.

I'm not exactly sure what this bolt is called, but if you view this picture: http://0.tqn.com/d/autorepair/1/0/e/E/71534606.gif
and look above where it points to the "one piece rubber gasket," you'll see the bolted area I'm speaking of. So I grab a 10mm, and very lightly torque it to see if maybe the bolt was loose, and it was not.

I'm pretty sure this is the one piece rubber gasket failing/cracking. My question is this, should I be concerned? Will it be ok to drive over the next several thousand miles like this? As I said, the leak isn't that bad, but I'm sure with the summer heat it will only worsen. Also, how difficult is it to change it out yourself?

Thanks for any comments and/or help guys!

First, welcome to HAF.

Me, I'd replace the vc gasket. The vc gasket set will come with the gasket, tube seals and the grommets that go on the bolts. You'll need a dab of silicone for the "corners" of the gasket.

Are you doing this work or taking it somewhere?

Also, I'd change the oil / filter early.

Hey, thanks for the responses, folks. Yes, I'm planning on changing the valve cover gasket myself. Does anyone have any information on how to do this for a 2.2 liter 96 accord? Thanks

I just did my 2001 Valve cover gasket for the second time (256K on it), it's cake.

Take the plug wires off (obviously) and make sure you know where they go. Take the PCV valve out (good time to replace that too). I agree with Uhoh too, change the oil and filter if you haven't already.

Loosen the 10mm bolts. Pop the cover off. Take out the old rubber gasket. As Haynes says, "installation is the reverse of removal".

As poorman says a little dab of sealant at the corners of the U shape is recommended I believe. You also want to take a look around the distributor. Look for oil around the distributor, if there is, you'll want to replace O-ring in there, it's a common leaky item to fix (just did mine too).

Be careful putting the bolts back in, I think the torque specs are 85in lb or something but those things are thin and can snap in a hurry, I learned the hard way.

There you are, just got done reading the PM :)

Pretty straight forward on the EX, vtec. I'll hit the high spots for now. You'll need a basic set of metric sockets - 1/4 in drive is perfect for this job in IMHO, 3/8 and you might start breaking things :(. A new vc gasket set, small tube of "black" silicone - that is just me, a small piece of vac line or we might be able to use one of the 1/4 sockets.

Going on memory here - members chime in if I leave something out.

Loosen the bolts holding the vc, some models have a cable bracket on one. Remove the pcv or the hose. Remove valve cover, if the timing belt was done recently it should come off easy - if it seems stuck we can help with ways of getting it off. Once off clean the cyl head surface with a rag or something, try to remove any dirt/grime from the head.

Remove the old vc gasket. Then look at the tube seals for the spark plugs. Remove those as well, as new one come in the set. Again if they are old and hard we can help with "how to get them off". Install the new tube seals the same way the old ones were on there...why I noted to look at the old ones before removing :). Then lay the gasket into the vc.

Now the grommets on the bolts....a little fun here. Again we all have different ways. I take a pair of pliers and rip the snot out of the old rubber and then remove them.

To install the new grommets, again just me and others will have their ways. I take a piece of vac line of the proper outside diameter and slide it over the thread of the bolts. Lube the vac line with a dab of oil and then slide the new grommet one. The trick here is the vc bolts have a "shoulder" on them at the end of the "threaded part". So you need something to help you get the new grommet over/around the shoulder on the bolts.

Then you want to put a small amount of silicone on the new gasket where the "cam hump" is. The sharp corners of the gasket, again have pics and that.

Set the vc back on and then install the bolts. The bolts only tighten to ~9 ft lbs, which is not much and the 1/4 will help in not over doing it.

So this got really long for something I said was simple.....but it is :)....and now I see as I was typing, someone else posted :)

Thanks for the responses and information! I have a question though.. What are the two rubber hoses that are attached to the valve cover called exactly? I'm pretty sure one of them is the PCV valve right? I'm assuming the other hose has something to do with supplying air, as it's attached to the air intake.

***EDIT

My VC gasket appears to be ok. It's not cracked, and appears to be in good shape. However, there's a decent-sized crack in the hose attached to my air intake where it attaches to the VC. I checked my PCV line, and it appears it's pretty gunked up. What I'm thinking may be going on is this: the cracked hose has been drawing in a surplus of oxygen, creating a build-up of positive pressure in the crankcase, thus causing leaking in the VC gasket. This extra positive pressure may be what was sending an excess of gunk/fluids into my PCV, right? I cleaned the PCV with brake cleaner, and checked to make sure that the spring/ball mechanism was still working properly.

Also, though unrelated, I checked the air filter and it the most clogged up, filthy filter I have ever seen before (I bought this car somewhat recently). I'm not sure how the air filter could effect this, but it's just an added observation.

Any thoughts?

Simple term for the "other hose" is a breather hose.

If it is cracked...replace it and see what you have.

Put a breather hose, and a new air filter too. No more burning oil! The performance seems to have increased as well, though, I'm not sure If I'm just imagining it or not.

Feels good and a cheap fix :)