Oil seepage and not-so-smooth warm starts
 

My wife's car has a bit of rough running on warm start-ups. Hoping it's just the old plugs and that replacing them will solve it. Could it be a fuel pressure problem?

I have a few pics of some oil seepage I have around the general area of the head gasket. I'd like to upload them, but I can't get them to upload even though they're all within size limits. The oil is appearing on the little ledge of the block deck right behind the timing belt cover towards the firewall, and all along under the exhaust manifold from the corner of the deck near the distributor on the radiator side. VTEC solenoid and distributor O-rings are brand new and not leaking. My instructor at school said that on Honda engines the head gasket sometimes interferes very closely with the oil tube running up to the cam/valves, and so some oil can work its way out around the HG from time to time. Other sources I've read (on this site and on Honda-Tech) say it's the cam seals. Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks again in advance!

Mileage on the car? Age of spark plugs? How about roughness on cold-starts?

First, I think if the camshaft seal were leaking, it would run down inside the timing cover & come out below the crankshaft pulleys. You can take off the upper timing cover & check that out.

Also look real close & try to rule out an oil leak at the valve cover gasket. It might run down & puddle at the head gasket before it gets dirty & visible. I think it's worthwhile to check that out before disturbing the head gasket.

What about a fuel injector leaking after you turn off the engine? Within a certain period of time after shut-down, there would be a puddle of fuel in the intake manifold & it would start like a flooded engine. After more time, it would evaporate & the engine would start more normally. You might try a bottle of fuel-injector cleaner in the fuel tank.

Jim, the car has nearly 250K on it. the wires are only about a year and a half old. I am planning on replacing them. I religiously run a bottle of STP injector cleaner through the system once a month.

As for the roughness on cold starts: it started and ran rough when I started it up this morning, and when I started it up again a little bit ago the engine had a terrible misfire and the MIL was flashing continuously. Valve cover gasket is dry as a bone all the way around. I'm convinced that the head gasket is toast. I'm just going to go ahead and replace it, so it won't be such a stress. I'm also going to do an oil/filter change and flush the cooling system thoroughly after I'm done.

Sounds like you've already covered most of my basics - I didn't want to take anything for granted. Age of spark plugs themselves? Factory wires last a LONG time, so unless you have a cheaper set maybe just check for arcing by starting the cold engine in complete darkness & watch for arcing.

I've seen most people recommend resurfacing the head & don't just bolt it back on. Maybe someone will chime in with actual experience. But at least you need to do your best to measure flatness of the deck & the head.

Update: Got it all torn down, block surface cleaned up and new gasket installed. I checked the head and the block and both are nice and flat. However, I was wondering about the cleanliness of the head's gasket surface (block side). I know it needs to be nice and clean, but how long should it take for the oil to drain sufficiently to clean the surface and plop it on the new gasket?

FYI, the head gasket I took out looked pretty bad. The finish was all bubbled and blistered, so I'm thinking the high presure blew through it and compromised the seal.

How are you checking the surface for flatness?

I'm using an aluminum square. Not a crack of light visible from the other side.

Something like a machinist's straightedge? Or more like a carpenter's square?

Carpenter's square.