Alright, so quick back story:

our car has had a moderate oil leak that we initially pinned down to the front valve cover. We replaced that and did not seem to have a noticeable leak for a time, however recently the leak seemed to be back. We exchanged the gasket and replaced it again, however when reassembling under the hood we noticed we had managed to strip out the top left bolt for the VTEC solenoid. The actual stripped out hole is in a backing plate for the solenoid, and it now has a significant oil leak. Which brings me to my questions:

1. I can't seem to find a replacement for the backing plate online, does anyone know how much of a pain it is to replace? I have a thread restore kit I can attempt but it looks like it'll be hard to fit a bigger bolt. The plate looks like it has 2 - 3 bolts holding it to the head. There also appears to be some kind of bonding agent holding the plate as well, would this simply be Hondabond?

2. On the topic of Hondabond, we've seen where people have said it's fine to use sparingly around the front valve cover gasket and people saying not to use it. Does anyone have any personal experience using it around the front valve cover gasket and / or the VTEC solenoid?

Thanks for any help!

 

1. I'm not sure of the setup on the 08 V6 engine. I thought the Vtec was under the cylinder head, but I could be wrong. Can you post a picture on here? I also copied a video below on replacing the valve cover from an 08 Acura, so it should be identical to your accord engine. Let us know the timestamp of when he removes the equivalent part on your engine, so we have an idea of the issue you are facing.

2. Let us know if the valve cover is flat like in the video, because you do not need Hondabond in this application. The only place I might use Hondabond is if the valve cover gasket keeps popping out when you install. I would then use 2 small dabs only between the cylinder head cover and the gasket to hold the gasket in the valve cover. I'd space them 1/3 of the way in on each side. I would not advise using hondabond between the gasket and cylinder head. You run the risk of getting the hondabond into the cylinder head and you are really not utilizing the gasket to seal. Plus removal of the cylinder head and cleanup of the hondabond would be a major PIA. Just clean the cylinder head mating surface with a rag to remove any dirt or debris. If you had some kind of significant gouge on the cylinder head mating surface, then you may want to put a small amount of hondabond just to seal up a potential gap.

4-cylinder accords have a hump on the short ends of the valve cover, where Honda recommends a dab of hondabond at the corner of the arch and the cylinder head. I do not think this applies in your case.

 

Regarding oil leaks on J-Series engines. I've had two, both developed oil leaks through the front cam seals within a few thousand miles of 150,000. Other common(ish) leak areas on these engines are the oil pump seal, the front crank seal, and the rear crank seal. Leaking from the VTEC following the thread stripping event, I haven't looked closely at the backing plate you speak of; is there enough depth to use a helicoil?