Hello all!

My 1992 Honda Civic 1.5L is my DD. It has 292k and the manual transmission.

While I was checking fluids I decided to pull the spark plugs.
They are covered with oil! One of them is really bad and the spark plug wire tube was popped out of place.

Any idea what that problem is?

J

 

The oil is leaking from the valve cover. Remove the valve cover and replace the 4 sparkplug seals. This has been covered before.

 

Valve cover gasket kits are pretty cheap too, I think only between $17->$25 at a local auto store (which would suffice).

Make sure you either put in fresh plugs if they haven't been replaced in awhile, or at the very least clean the ones you have with carb cleaner before re inserting.

 

You failed to mention the lower tower seals.

If this is the non vtec 1.5L of the 92-95 era then it also had lower seals which require removing the rocker arm assembly.

OP You also didn't indicate on which side of the plugs you have oil but it appears everyone is assuming the plug wire side and not the inside engine side which should appear a nice tan color on all four electrode ends.

 

If you look down into the spark plug hole, you should be able to tell if the leak is coming from the upper valve-cover seal, or mid-way-down at the cam-cap seal. The cam cap seals are much more difficult to replace. You will need a new valve cover seal set, some honda-bond, and the 4 cam-cap o-rings and a feeler gauge set to re-set the valve clearance. If you are not comfortable doing valve clerance, consider taking it to a mechanic.

The whole job can be done without removing the timing belt, cam-gear or cam seal. Prying up all the cam caps as a complete assembly is the trickiest part. There are hundreds of individual parts captured on the rocker shafts, so don't remove the cam cap bolts from the cam caps. The bolts will hold the entire assembly together once removed from the head.

 

Very good information, thank you guys.

I'll have to take a further look at this this afternoon, maybe I can post some pictures.
A valve-cover gasket is something I would do. I did this for my Integra last year too.

 

Photographing the problem will be difficult at best. Just look down in the tube and see how high up the the oil marks on the sides of the walls go. If it's all the way to the top, then it's the valve-cover seals.

 

I like your sig.

Do the Spark Plug and Valve cover Gasket need any kind of gasket sealant?

 

Use sealant only on the corners of the valve cover gasket where it makes the turn for the "humps" up over the camshaft. None on the spark plug tube seals.

 

The gasket-set includes the main gasket, 4 spark-plug tube seals, and 4 or 5 bolt grommets.
Get a tube of Hondabond for the 4 square corners of the main gasket. It's the best.