Hey everyone,

So lately I've been having trouble losing coolant and haven't been able to locate where it's going after pressurizing the coolant system. My next step was to check the compression on each cylinder. That's when I discovered this....



It seems a gasket down near the (or maybe even is) the head gasket has enveloped my spark plug which makes it impossible to remove the plug. I didn't want to tear that gasket out as it seems to be doing its job currently. Anyone know what this is or the best tactic to go about replacing it?

I have all the parts to replace the head gasket if that's the case, but I'd really rather not if I don't have to. The vehicle is a 2002 civic EX with 178,000 on it. I've read the HG is notoriously bad on these motors ( D17a2)

I'd greatly appreciate any advice anyone has.

Thanks!
-Ben

 

.. I don't think that's supposed to be there? I don't have any "extra" gaskets in my plug tubes.

Example photo:



Just take it (or them) out. They don't need to be there.

 

Thanks for the response, that's how my first, second, and fourth cylinders look. The third cylinder is the only one that has that gasket enveloping the plug. I don't want to just tear that gasket out because I feel like it should be below the plug to keep oil out of the plug threads like in the picture above. That's just my assumption, as far as if that is its purpose or not, I'm not positive.

 

Ask yourself this.. If cylinders 1, 2 and 4 are fine without that oddball gasket, do you really think you need one on cylinder 3? (or any of the cylinders?)

Just remove it. It shouldn't be there, and it's not preventing oil from getting on your plug threads. (not that having a gasket below the plug will prevent that, either. Especially a rubber one.)
I'm not sure why someone even put it there. None of my plugs have (or had) those and I've had no problems.

 

What I'm saying is that you DO have that gasket.....it's just below your plug where it should be. You can see the black ring of that gasket in your image.

https://honda-tech.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1277083775

 

Um.. that's not a rubber gasket, dude. Here.. same tube, no plug.

Note the absence of a black rubber gasket in the photo.


When I removed the spark plug, it seemed to come out with too much ease, so I checked the torque specs on the other three. While doing so, I also snapped a photo of each one.

 

Kind of looks like the rubber part inside a spark plug socket?

 

yea, i agree...

i think someone may have replaced the spark plugs and somehow managed to accidentally leave behind the rubber thingy from a spark plug socket?

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, it seems like it was the insert from a spark plug socket. It must have been in there for quite awhile because it was solid as a rock. Ended up having to break it up with a stiff wire and then stuck the shop vac over the plug tube and pulled out all the crap.

 

when was the last time you replaced the spark plugs.... just what I would have done..