Have oil leaking down the passenger side front of the engine block? It's more than likely your exhaust cam seal. This is known to be a culprit for a lot of leaks and a lot of aftermarket companies make replacements that utalize o-rings for a more effective seal. This is pretty simple and easy so save yourself a few bucks and do it yourself.

First pop your hood and this is what you should see. See how the front of my block is all nasty and covered in oil. We are going to fix that!



Next remove all spark plug wires and the nuts circled in blue. After the nuts are removed there will still be a washer stuck to the valve cover. Use a screwdriver or needle nose pliers to pull them off. You don't need to keep track of the order of the wires. The length is pretty self explanatory on install. When installed torque in numeric order to 7.2lb/ft



Next remove the breather line from the valve cover. You might need needle nose pliers to remove a clamp that holds this line onto some valve covers

Now the valve cover is ready to come off, just wiggle it a little bit and it should pop right off. Then you should see this. Remove the bolts circled in blue to remove the oil rail. When installing, torque bolts 1-10 in numeric order to 19 lb/ft and 11-14 to 7.2 lb/ft

After the oil rail is off, simply remove the very last cam cap. If you are looking at the engine is on the exhaust side on your left hand side. Remove the two bolts that hold it. You don't need to remove the stud. After the bolts are out, pry with a flat screwdriver against the head VERY LIGHTLY where the red arrow is to un-stick the cap from dowels in the head. It doesn't take much so be gentle.



Underneath it is the cam seal. My car happens to have a golden eagle aftermarket seal and as you can see the o-rings have seen better days. I took it to a local Carquest auto parts store and found replacements. I'd suggest an aftermarket one if you are going to tear into it this far. They are much better than the OEM ones in this case



Install is just the opposite of removal. Install the cam seal. I've always been told to use some type of lubricant on o-rings so I used a little grease. Put the cam cap and the two bolts back in. Install the oil rail and bolts. Torque those bolts. Clean off the mating surface of the cylinder head and Honda suggests to use a new valve cover gasket but as long as the seal is soft I usually reuse them. Never had any issues. Honda also suggests to apply Honda-Bond to the four corners of the head shown in this pic to help against leaks.



Install the washers and nuts for the valve cover. The longer studded nuts go in the middle for your spark plug cover. Install your breather line and you are done. Remember to ALWAYS torque internal bolts. You might get away with hand tightening some bolts but I've seen tons of these bolts snapped so take the extra time and torque them.

-Kris
Copyright 2008 IpbRacing Productions


Modified by HeikDiesel at 11:03 PM 10/22/2008

 

So would this work just the same for a b18b as well? a different writeup i was looking through showed them removing all the cam caps and the cam in order to replace that seal. but by the looks of it i should be able to just remove that one cam cap correct? nice writeup btw

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D16SiHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So would this work just the same for a b18b as well? a different writeup i was looking through showed them removing all the cam caps and the cam in order to replace that seal. but by the looks of it i should be able to just remove that one cam cap correct? nice writeup btw </TD></TR></TABLE>

I haven't been into a LS but I don't think they run those oil rails, so you should just be able to pop your valve cover off and remove that one cap

 

nope they sure dont, and that's what i was thinkin too. w00t lol

 

seams straight foward, i need to do this to my car the front of my block is nasty

 

if i need to do this on the intake side is it the same thing?

 

No, the distributor is there, not a cap. Put a small mark on the top mounting point for the distributor (so you can re-install without having to set timing). Remove the distributor, replace the o-ring, re-install, done.

 

Thank you is honda the onley place to get the distributor O RING cause my local parts stores cant seam to get the cam seal or the O RING for the distribtor??

 

That would be correct. Alternatively, you could get the spec for it from an Acura parts catalog and buy something that's the same size.

 

Just for visuals, Here is my write-up for the cam seal replacement.

B-Series Cam Seal Install | Importnut.net

 

Rockauto also has a good supply in stock, fast shipping too. AJUSA 16019000 {#30110PA1732, 80024} O-Ring Type w/TEC Ign. Dist

 

Do you use any sealant between the cam cap cap and its mating surface on the the head (especially outside of the valvve cover). I cannot get Hondabond at . Whic ther product will suffice ?

 

You could, would just mean more clean up later when it needs to be done again.

Most people recommend Permatex Ultra Grey. I personally like, Permatex "The Right Stuff" either grey or black.

 

Before I didn't but now I do. I would clean up the mating surface and ensure its not oily. Then I apply a thin bead and spread it. Incase the mating surface is uneven the hondabond will catch it.

 

HeikDiesel haven't seen you here in a while! great Article!

 

That was from 2008, thread got bumped but decent question so deserved a decent answer. lol, suspect it's gonna be awhile longer still.

 

Ahhh i got a excited for a sec!..