I have a 1996 Honda Accord with 105,000 miles (I bought it used, not sure of maintenance history). I took my car to the dealership this afternoon for the free tune-up and they told me I had bad o-rings. Apparently the oil was getting into the ignition wires. They gave me a quote of a little over $300 to fix it which makes me think this is a difficult job.

How hard would this truly be to replace? Basically the only car work I have previously done was with a Haynes manual doing general maintenance on my Ford Thunderbird. If anyone could point me to a detailed how-to I would appreciate it.

They gave me the spark plugs and wires and told me they should not be installed until I fix the oil issue, what do you guys think of this?

 

well, if they are talking about the o ring gaskets then it's quite a simple job...all you have to do is get a new valve cover gasket with o ring gaskets and remove the bolts (8 i believe) holding on the valve cover...then you need to replace the gaskets, use some kind of gasket adhesive, and you are done...bolt it back up and call 'er done...

 

Theres 2 sets of o-rings. Theres a set at the bottom of the spark tube (where the spark plug enters the cylinder), and a set at the top of the tubes (where it meets the valve cover). The top set is really simple to do, 10 mins tops. The bottom set is more difficult. I've read in the helm manual that you need to remove the rocker assembly (don't quote me on that though).

 

yo tomi ...here is what you do it is a very very easy job go to dealer and get a valve cover gasket and 4 spark plug seals...remove valve cover very easy , flip cover upside down and you will see 4 oval shaped seals, remove them and install new seals, install new valve cover gasket put it all together and you are done..

total time 10-20 minutes total cost each plug seal is around $ 4 you will need 4 ,valve cover gasket aroung $ 10

there are also rockers arm seals which would let oil get into the plugs but that was a common problem with 88-91 civics i have never seen an acoord with those seal leak i am willing to bet that yours dont leak

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zumiez007 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Theres 2 sets of o-rings. Theres a set at the bottom of the spark tube (where the spark plug enters the cylinder), and a set at the top of the tubes (where it meets the valve cover). The top set is really simple to do, 10 mins tops. The bottom set is more difficult. I've read in the helm manual that you need to remove the rocker assembly (don't quote me on that though).</TD></TR></TABLE>

if you take those tubes out, have fun putting them back in. I didn't even attempt it and my machinist advised me to not touch them unless necessary, as they would most likely need to be pressed back in. He cleaned the head w/ the tubes still in place.

I'd replace the top seals per deserthonda's instruction and see how that works out. At $300 cost I would hope the dealership would be replacing the bottom ones as well...

 

Thanks for the replies. Is there any place I could see a visual step by step process of this?