I have a 1990 Honda CRX Dx with the 1.5L engine. I have replaced the valve cover and the 4 seals from the spark plug inserts several times now. I have replaced it bout twice so far. The seals around the spark plug holes will begin to leak after i put atleast 5,000 miles on them. I have tried to silicone them for extra protection but it don't work for bout 2500 miles. I'm just trying to understand What can i do to make them not leak? Is there a trick to it or something? It's a waste of money to keep paying 20dollars for a whole vlave cover kit for every 5,000miles.

 

i don't think you really need any sealant on those plug seals. I had to put permatex ultragrey on my valve cover because even the Honda seal kept leaking but I haven't lost a drop of oil in a long time.

What brand of seals are you using anyways?

Also another question would be when the last time you cleaned your PCV valve? If it is clogged your crankcase might be forcing the oil pressure out anyway it can.

 

I'm using the FelPro gasket kit from advance auto. I didn't know it had a PCV valve. Where is it located?

 

hey i have had this problem for about 6000 miles now and i was getting real tired of cleaning out the oil so i thought of something. i had a d16a6 valve cover laying around so i decided to put it on my d15b2 it works a lot better. i check my spark plugs and the chambers everyday and they are bone dry have not leaked one drop into the spark plugs since i changed valve covers. i advise u to go to your local junkyard find a a6 cover clean it up get a new gasket and seals and use it. the covers look the same but there must be a difference in where the seals sit i think the a6 has a deeper crevasse where the seal sits.

 

Are you positive it's the spark plug tube seals at the valve cover that are leaking? You do know that there are also seals at the base of the valve rocker arm assembly. If these leak, they will also cause the spark plug tube to fill with oil.

To replace them you must remove the valve cover and the the rocker arm assembly.

 

dont use felpro

use the cheapest gaskets from mautozone

I put over 150k miles on a valvecover gsaket kit that cost me like 13-15 bucks


ALL in how you install it


did you finger oil teh gaskets? did you do the hand snugging, then doing a heat cycle before torqueing?

it is NOT a simple install and bolt down method

 

@littlewagon Yes its the spark plug tube seals. When i bought this CRX It only had 127k miles on it and it was a well kept car and still is. The guy had the head rebuilt and modified with HF components to get the maximum gas mileage out of the car. I get 52 mpgs on the hwy. @mattliston I did finger oil the gaskets and torque down the valve cover. I don't understand the heat cycle????

 

hand snug valvecover bolts

go drive and get motor warmed up

tighten another 1/4 turn when warm

if it leaks, warm the motor upo again and tightent 1/8 turn


warm means the car has been on for TWNETY TO THIRTY MINUTES

this is not only "water temp warm"

 

I had the exact same issue with one of my wagons that also recently had the head "rebuilt" by the previous owner.
After replacing the complete valve cover gasket set w/OEM parts twice with no success, I removed the rocker arm assembly only to find the seals at the base of the rocker arms were brittle and falling apart.
I replaced those seals and never had that issue again. It's worth a shot since you've already tried replacing the tube seals and still have the same issues. It really isn't all that difficult to replace these seals and there is no magic sequence to install the valve cover tube seals as others may have you believe. Good luck.

 

what kind of modifications were done to the car to achieve better fuel mileage?

Cause on my HF I run Amsoil synthetic, i have a plain ol' CAI from ebay and a header and slightly bigger exhaust which netted me 64.1 MPG last time i drove down to portland and back.

ohh and if you torque down the valve cover bolts too much they will break. I had one break on me and I had to go to the junkyard and pick up a new one. PITA. Do no torque them down too much.

The torque values for the crown nuts are only 7 lb-ft.

 

The cam and valvetrain was rebuilt with an 89 HF components. I have a K&N stock filter replacement in the air filter box. I have a performance exhaust with 2in pipe from CAT and back. The timing has been turned back a few degrees also. I got 60mpgs going to northern GA from Charlotte, NC area. I fixed my valve cover leak guys, I changed a couple of bad vacuum hoses and that was it.

 

the best thing to use is Honda Bond its the best gasket sealer ive ever use

 

shouldnt use any sort of gasket maker on the spark plug rings or donuts unless you dont have a gasket handy. too much vibration and heat from combustion will make the gasket maker hardened and brittle, and prone to cracking after a while

 

Where can you buy good seals for the rocker panel and how challenging is it to pull and install rocker panel?