Hey All. I have a 2005 Accord EX-L V6 w/181k miles on it and I have a few questions.

First a little back story. I bought the car used in 2010 and for the first 6 months or so, it ran just fine. After awhile, though, I started getting the transmission slippage that I've read so many Honda users get. A new transmission later, the car was up and running again. Then about 2 months ago, I noticed every once in awhile, when I gave it gas, the car would "jerk" for a second and continue. I thought this was probably due to the car needing a tuneup/new spark plugs. So I picked up some NGK Iridiums and figured i'd at least do the spark plug change myself.

When removing the front 3 spark plugs, I noticed that there was a little oil on the coils (from left to right = 1 - 3). 1 looked damp like it had just a bit of oil - 2 showing oil on it, but still not a lot - 3 had a lot of oil on it. The spark plugs were Autolites and looked very old, with Spark plug #3 having A LOT of gunk covering the gap which I would guess is what caused the jerking.

The back set of plugs/coils were clean and fine.

Doing a search, I found that the oil leak could be caused by a few things - Upper and/or lower Spark Plug tube seals and/or the valve cover gasket.

I'm sure all of these need to be replaced, as the car is 180k miles on it and probably has never been done, so here are my questions:

1. What valve cover gasket kit would you recommend and do you happen to know the part number(s)? (I prefer sticking with OEM, but don't know if it is necessary.)

2. Does anyone know of a walkthrough/video on replacing the VCG/Top Seals (i'm staying away from the bottom seals)? (I'm a visual person and have some mechanical experience and can definitely figure it out, but I'd prefer to see something showing me from someone who DEFINITELY knows what they are doing.)

3. Because I'm sure that the #3 Spark plug is fouled again (going to check tonight when i get home) does it need to be replaced, or can I just clean it off and put it back in. It's less than 2.5 months old.

4. Any tips anyone has for something like this and/or am I missing anything I should have asked?


Thank you all for your time!

 

I think your car only has upper seals in the valve cover. The older accords (90-97) had the lower seals.

Fel-pro makes good gaskets as an aftermarket brans. They Fel-Pro valve cover kit will have all the necessary seals.

 

Awesome! Thanks. That will definitely make it much easier on me (and cheaper!) lol.

 

my '93 had big time oil in the wells when I checked it @ 185k when I bought it, but it was working fine.
So, I changed the gaskets anyway, like you're talking of doing.
Don't think it bought me anything - it wasn't broken; oil there seems: no impact.

 

You mean on your 93 it didn't help the oil in the sparkplug tubes? The 93 probably has the lower seals (under the rocker assembly) but the 2005 doesn't have those lower ones.

 

^^^ good clarification need


on '93 (4 cyl) the abundant oil in the spark plug wells caused no driveability issue (it didn't miss),
but I fixed gaskets out of a sense of what was proper.

Put iridium plugs in it and made point never to check them again - cuz I didn't want to find oil again;
didn't really care whether oil was there or not; I just didn't want to know about it.
car went to son @ 235,000.

bottom line = oil in my cars spark plug wells didn't hurt anything

 

If the oil gets high enough in the tubes it will short the plug causing it to misfire. I had a 92 Accord with that problem. By that time, your wires are seriously soaked with oil. I had to change the orings (lower rockerarm seals). If you look down the tubes with a flashlight, you might be able to tell which seam the oil is leaking through. I would try the valve cover doughnuts first, then the o-rings if that doesn't work.