Thought I'd post because there's nothing on the forum really about changing valve stem seals. For starters I have a 96 Accord EX with the F22B1...so lots of extra little rocker arms and springs to go flying. This is not a job for the faint of heart.

Car was getting harder to start hot or cold and going through maybe a quart of oil every 1k miles. EGR clogging up and the occasional code, good compression. I tried to cheat and shot air into the cylinders through the spark plug holes to avoid having to take the head off. In hindsight I think it would have been just as fast to take the head off. The valve stem compressor I rented would not fit and I ended up making a tool out of a piece of pipe and pressing the springs down manually. Lost a couple valve keepers which only lengthened the job. If I'd taken the head off I could have used a huge C-clamp style compressor. Follow the manual and keep your bolts in the rocker arm assembly, that was a non-issue that I was really worried about it all coming apart. Its a doable job but the car better be worth saving and you gotta have a lot of patience and hopefully another set of hands.

 

So what's your oil consumption look like now ? I assume you've driven long enough to give an accurate assessment.

 

Were you experiencing any blueish smoke only on start-up? If so and it would go away shortly after that's usually a good sign of bad valve seals.

The typical valve compressors that you can rent usually dont work on Honda's. I've seen some really nice Honda specific valve compressors but I bought this...

I've used it on my SVT Contour and a friends B18. My brother-in-law also used it on his B18. Works good, either while installed in the car or not.

 

Actually still waiting on my darn valve keepers and bought a couple timing covers that were starting to crack and the pressed in nuts were slipping. Highly recommend honsapartsdeals.com covers were much cheaper than ebay for used. Shipping/handling is kinda steep but near as I can tell it's a flat rate for as many parts as you need. I'm a two hour round trip to a Honda rapeorship so I buy online when I can.

It was starting up just fine if I parked at a steep angle and oil couldn't seep into the cylinders. Old seals were rock hard so I'm hoping for the headache it fixes my problems. Brother-in-law was giving me crap telling me I should just buy newer cars... But he's broke and just put new motors in two of his Chevy's because he doesn't maintain them like he thinks he does. It might be nearly twenty years old but it drives as well as newer vehicles, has been paid off for a decade, and gets the same gas mileage as cars that other chumps are making payments on. I'd rather put twenty hours into a car and a few hundred bucks than buy a $5k car... But that's just the Dave Ramsey in me.