drove to work yesterday morning....went to leave work and my accord started sputtering(idling and when accelerating), like a miss fire, all the way home. well i let it cool down and seen that one of the spark plugs were shot. Bought new plugs and put them in, cranked car and ran fine (did not actually drive). woke up this morning to go to work and even before i got out the drive way it started again... should i have changed the wires also??... and 2 of my plugs had oil on them, the 2 on the right(if facing motor from front of car)... just need some advice... im thinkin about doing a valve gasket and maybe wires but i dont wanna just go blow the money..any help is appreciated, thanks

 

There are two sets of seals for the F22A spark plug tubes. The upper tube to valve cover seals and there is also a set of O-rings at the base of the rocker assembly.

Yellow = upper tube seals - Red = lower tube O-rings


You could get lucky and the leak may only be coming from the upper tube seals. In this case you would remove the valve cover, replace the valve cover gasket and upper tube seals and see if the leak is fixed.

If it is still leaking then you will have to replace lower tube seals. Removing the rocker assembly is not something I would suggest doing if you are not mechanically inclined, you should also have a shop manual with a step by step on how to remove and reinstall everything.

I think there is a youtube video by Eric the car guy on how to replace these seals.

I would recommend that you replace the timing belt, adjust the valves, and replace the water pump if you are going to go through with removing the rocker assembly.

 

thats all fancy and what not but doesnt tell me why its sputtering like it is... its starting to irritate me.. and im sure it just the valve gasket because it isnt that bad...

 

When was the last time you did a full tune up? Distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, wires, fuel and air filters. Is the ignition coil the original part? You could also test that as well.

As far as the spark plug tube seals go. The severity of the oil leak doesn't always reveal which seal is leaking.

 

a full full tune up?...a good bit.. wires, cap, and ignition coil have been replaced but a good little bit ago...i did my oil filter, air filter and spark plugs prolly about 2 months ago.. when i checked the spark plugs yesterday when the problem started the tip to one of them was black so i figured i would just replace all the spark plugs... worked a lil bit but like i said.. started to do it again this morning...

 

After you take your car for a good run on the highway remove and inspect the 4 spark plugs again. If that same spark plug is fouled you know what cylinder is having the issue. then it's time to do a compression test and leak down test.

It could be that the valves for that cylinder are out of adjustment.

 

i dont want to take my car on the highway when its sputtering... that doesnt make sense.. wouldnt that **** it up even more.. i dont even know what my 1st step would be...

 

Were to start would be to make sure that you have a healthy motor. Specially if you are that concerned with harming your engine.

In order to to this you should perform a compression test and/or leak down test on your motor.


Another question, is your check engine light on?