Hi there, I have a 95 Civic VX and was changing my valve cover gasket + spark plug tube seals today when I noticed that when I was placing the valve cover back on that the spark plug tube seals did not seem to align? Everytime I press it on (valve cover) as carefully as I can, I can see parts of the top of the spark plug chamber exposed. Any tips/ideas on how to get it fully sealed or is this the norm?

Yes, I have made sure they are sitting completely flush inside the VC.

 

Spark plug valve cover seals... installation woes - AnandTech Forums

SAME exact situation as I am going through except this is the fourth damn time. And yes I am being gentle when installing. The one attempt out of 20 that all four seals actually line up goes to **** as soon as I start tightening the VC.

 

The seals are meant to go around the spark plug tube, not cover the top of it.

Read post #2 in the link you provided.





eH.

 

I know this but, aligning them is nearly impossible. Trust me, this is the fourth time i've had to do this on the same car. I have it memorized lol. I can see based off the design of the spark plug tube seals that it would go around the spark plug tube and not cover the top of it....how else would the spark plug wire boot go through the chamber..

 

Buy quality OEM gasket kit then. I just did my VC and had zero trouble the first time. How do you want someone to tell you to line each gasket up over the tube. There's no secret to it. Once the seal are around the tube, I don't see how tightening down the VC would cause the to become misaligned. Align each seal, push the VC down snug to the head, tighten bolts. One potato, two potato, three potato.





eH.

 

Let me make it SUPER simple for both you and I. Let's use this pic for reference.

http://www.georgebelton.com/6g.civic...arance.029.jpg

When I am placing the VC back on, would I use the first pic or the second pic to align?

 

I've bought Felpro lol. At $30+ I would think that its "quality."

 

First pic; if we're talking about where the spark plug tube needs to go.





eH.

 

Price doesn't dictate quality. Also, it looks like you're installing those seals upside down.

 

I totally agree with you but, I figured Felpro is one of the better gasket brands around? I guess not apparently.

This is another picture that I found online..

https://honda-tech.com/attachments/t...s-img_2592.jpg

That's how I placed mine into the VC as well. Is that the correct way or incorrect? If it is correct, would I place the spark plug tube between the inner and outer edge of the seal just the outer edge? (closer to flathead depicted in that pic)

 

Then this would explain it LOL! Sorry i'm just super frustrated man..so it does NOT go in between the outer and inner rubber edges of the seal...the design of the seal is quite confusing in that case...

 

That sounds MUCH easier to accomplish versus placing the spark plug tube between the seal...so I could just use a small flathead to kinda seat the seal around the outer end of the spark plug tube. Basically, I should not be seeing any of the actual spark plug tube seal if it's set correctly?

 

Correct. Except it isn't confusing. Pretty much every seal works that way.





eH.

 

No I mean literally the design of this specific seal is confusing. Look at it..it totally makes it look like the spark plug tube should be sitting between the seal.

 

Because of the way it looked I thought I had to align the tube to the seal as such:



What I have learned today is that, that is NOT the case and it needs to be aligned like this: (excuse the crude drawings, i'm trying to depict the spark plug tube being aligned upside down)





Now please tell me this is correct so I can peacefully put my head on my pillow and fix this crap once and for all tomorrow. Also, why would the middle part of the seal be empty? Is it so that it is more flexible? Only reason I can think of.

 

Yes, the gasket goes around the spark plug tube

 

Around NOT between. Got it. Meaning align based off picture #2 from my latest post. Thank you very much for your help.

Also, why would the middle part of the seal be empty? Is it so that it is more flexible? Only reason I can think of.

 

All honda gaskes are like that, oem gaskets that is. I've seen some with a metal ring inside. Those were the ones I had problems with.

 

Ah, ok. I thought that based off the look of the spark plug tube seal that the spark plug tube would have to be aligned to sit between the seal rather than have the seal around/"hugging" the tube..looks can be deceiving huh? Lol..

So I should NOT see any of the spark plug tube seal if I do it correctly because as of now I can see it.

 

Since the seal sits down on the tube, you WILL see the top of the tube when the VC is on. But you are correct as you should NOT see the seal except for between the VC and tube as so:







eH.

 

Yeah definitely. Thank you very much for clarifying man honestly you don't know how frustrating something this simple has been for me lol. I had less difficulty replacing motor mounts on my 240sx LOL! Have a good day/night!!

 

Enjoy your VX!





eH!

 

I don't wanna sell it anymore LOLOL.

 

those are upside down ...the rounded part goes down (or up in your picture) this way the tube slides in nice and smooth.

if that is a picture of how you installed them, they are wrong.

of course, it will seal that way, its just not correct

 

Thats correct, maybe previous owner put them on wrong and he followed it.