bwiissofly

Starting about a month ago, my car would start and shake a little until it really took off. I figured this was because of the spark plugs.

A couple days ago, I pulled the spark plugs and they were full of oil. The car overheated for less than a minute, I put antifreeze in it and it was fine.

The check engine light came on saying cylinder #2 was misfiring.

Does this sound like a replacement of spark plugs and valve cover gasket or blown head gasket?

Meraut

If its anything like the F22 engine in by CB7 accord, there are o-rings that sit on the bottom of the spark plug tubes between the rocker arms i believe. They will get brittle and fail overtime, letting oil in. This usually occurs starting at cylinder #2 since there is an oil passage right next to it. If you check on lower spark plug tube seals/o-rings it should take you to where you need to go.

bwiissofly

I ended up replacing the spark plug wires since they weren't making a good connection. My valve cover gasket was loose. Back in business. $50 bucks later I'm back riding better than ever!

NZXTInerTia

On ever Honda I've ever worked on (including my own) over 150k the valve cover seals have always been junk and started to leak and foul plugs.

DanInOttawa

I've also found that tightening the valve cover bolts will sometimes do the trick, they can vibrate loose.

If it is actually the o-rings, bear in mind that there are actually two sets of seals that keep oil out of the spark plug wells, the valve cover o-rings, and another set below the rocker-arm cage (just like Merault says....). If you clean out the wells really well, you can sometimes see if it's the upper or lower seals which are leaking after a few miles by tracking in the wells.

The upper are simpler to do, try those first if you can't see which ones are leaking and if they don't solve the problem, you have to pull the rocker arm cage and replace the lower ones.

This video gives an idea (his torque values -among other things, are questionable, but it gives you an idea if you're doing this for the first time):

pedrof878

It could just be that u need new spark plug seals. So it would be best to replace all head gaskets. Thats what happened to me

DanInOttawa

Whatttt???

Spark plug O-rings and head gaskets are very different - you do not want to replace a head gasket to solve this problem.....at all.

bwiissofly

I replaced the spark plug wires and after driving a lot today the car is doing MUCH better. No issues whatsoever. Well, minus getting into a car accident about an hour ago. Sitting at a night and the big dodge ram in front of me decides to put it in reverse this hitting me.

Meraut

Bah that sucks lol, sorry to hear that bwiissofly but glad your car is running great! I had to replace the lower o-rings on my car not long ago @ 396k miles.

bwiissofly

396k???

What year car do you have and how many miles is it at now? What all have you replaced?

holmesnmanny

If you don't replace the spark plug lower tube seals like Dan mentioned you're going to be needing more wires and plugs soon.

DanInOttawa

All respect to Holmes, but the OP might have found his problem as he says his valve cover was loose, a very common problem that would result in his symptoms independently of the rocker O-rings. I've had to replace valve cover O-rings and/or snug down the valve cover on vehicles with this problem, and been fine and bone dry in the wells to past 300k without doing the lower rocker O-rings. I find that if the valve cover nuts are older, they vibrate loose a lot and cause the O-rings to leak, and even know of people to lock-tite them to prevent this.....

I would definitely keep a close eye on the situation to make sure that no oil is ending up in the wells now that you've tightened the valve cover so that you don't have to replace wires again. If you catch it early enough, you'll be able to replace some seals before having to get new wires as well....or, you could always be forward thinking and preventative, and just do both sets of seals now while your wires and plugs are fresh and save yourself the hassle of checking them and maybe missing it before your wires are toast again, which is what Holmes's wisdom was getting at....I was just offering a cheaper (not necessarily better!) option if you're dirtbagging it....

Just sometimes best intentions can lead to headaches (https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/oil-spark-plugs-stripped-bolts-etc-3149946/), and it might have been a simpler fix that would have sorted it....

Meraut

92 accord lx coupe. Still got stock tranny, replaced clutch and various other maintenance things. Nothing has really broken on me, but ive replaced things with preventative maintenance.

DanInOttawa

Right on! I'm rocking a 300k club '92 LX as well, and has been bombproof up until the last couple months (lost 5th, serious hesitation, I've got a few threads floating around here...lol)

Up until then the engine/tranny have been so solid, a couple of clutches and EGR port cleaning, but other than that typical Honda goodness.....

holmesnmanny

lol Dan, I like how you say he probably found the problem, no offense to me, then proceed to tell him to keep an eye on it since he may still have a leak. Kinda funny.

I've had 4 cb7s and all have had rocker arm spark plug tube seal leaks by 225000 or less.

The OP doesn't give any idea how many miles he has. I was just giving out as much advice as could be helpful.

Yep, he coulda found the problem, but he may not realize it til it leaks and the spark plug wires pull apart has happened to me before.

bwiissofly

I'm a she not a he.

The car has about 230,000 miles. I will keep an eye on it. Everything is fine. I fixed the problem.

holmesnmanny

OP, check the spark plug tubes again after about 500 miles to be on the safe side.