How exactly go about changing my valve cover gasket?

Just a question but a 92 prelude Si has 5 nuts on the Valve cover. The one in the middle broke when i was fooling around with it Is that bolt there just to hold the little thing to snap in the wires, or does it actually keep the cover tight? cause when it broke the inside of the screw looked like it was made of plastic?

Help me out please.

 

Take off the wire harness on the right side - unhook it from the alternator and lay if over the fuel rail or something. Take off the plug wires, the 5 nuts, the ground wire, unsnap the wire holders, and flip the thing over. Pull out the old gasket, oil the new one, and push it into the groove on the underside of the cover.

The nuts are there to hold the cover on. The bolts are coming up through the holes from inside the cover. Maybe you're thinking of the rubber washer under the nut? What exactly broke, the nut? How? Or the rubber, or the plastic spark wire holder?

 

no no it was the bolt that broke... the one in the middle snapped... and when i looked at the snapped peice trhat was still left inside the nut, it looked like plasetic... i have no clue why... could it be the middle bolt is just to hold the wire harness?

 

You probably broke bolt #15 or #14. Its not a big deal, they break all the time. When you pull the valve cover off to replace the gasket, you can replace this bolt too.

 

you placed too much torque on it. It happened to me too. If you are infact talking about the bold right in the middle of the valve cover. It looks like plastic because the metal has twisted and snapped, it's aluminum though. What you need to do it go to Honda ASAP and replace that bolt/nut/washer as soon as you can. (I wouldn't sit on it too long.

You can go to http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com to order one, however you will be stuck with an extra four because you have to order to quantity, so order from Honda, don't let them fix it, just go in there and say "I want to order parts.." leave it at that, otherwise they will try to charge you two arms, a leg, and half your head of hair to fix it. Seriously.

With the valve cover, you never want to use two hands to put the nuts back on, you will put entirely too much torque on it. Use one hand, be gentle, and it should get to the point where you cannot move it (provided you aren't super man). I'll get back with you for exact torque specs.

 

Grind/cut the nut off the broken stud (If needed) to remove the valve cover and then you can remove the broken stud from the head once the valve cover is off. Goto the Honda dealership and get a new stud to replace the one you broke

Get a few extra nuts and an extra stud while you're there or buy a good torque wrench... These things suck to mess with!