24
Ask Cars: Valve cover gasket replacement
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
24 points (96.2% liked)
Cars - For Car Enthusiasts
3935 readers
22 users here now
About Community
c/Cars is the largest automotive enthusiast community on Lemmy and the fediverse. We're your central hub for vehicle-related discussion, industry news, reviews, projects, DIY guides, advice, stories, and more.
Rules
- Stay respectful to the community, hold civil discussions, even when others hold opinions that may differ from yours.
- This is not an NSFW community, and any such content will not be tolerated.
- Policy, not politics! Policy discussions revolve around the concept; political discussions revolve around the individual, party, association, etc. We only allow POLICY discussions and political discussions should go to c/politics.
- Must be related to cars, anything that does not have connection to cars will be considered spam/irrelevant and is subject to removal.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Don't be afraid to try this if you can follow basic instructions. Cars are pretty stout and unless you do something crazy this should go fine.
I would guess you can find some good YouTube videos that will walk through he specific steps/process for your car. Or a car forum/FB group to search any specific issues changing valve covers. Generally this is a pretty straightforward job.
I have no idea what maintenance has been done previously etc. But if it has plug wires might consider changing them as well, however a lot of cars today have coils right on the plugs so no maintenance needed if yours is like that.
Realize the small bolts holding the valve cover on will not take a ton of force to tighten. They're small bolts going into small holes. Pay attention to how tight they are when taking them off if you don't plan to use a torque wrench to tighten them. Make them snug not crazy tight.
Thanks for the reply! I already did find a couple videos and forum posts about this specific job, so I'm hoping it'll go fairly smoothly. I do believe the coils are right on top of the plugs, along with a plug boot. Are the coils worth replacing, and what exactly is a plug boot? From what I'm reading, them being missing can cause some issues in removing the plugs. I do plan on grabbing a rental torque wrench just to be sure I don't do anything crazy 😂
I'm honestly not sure what a plug boot is. What I've seen is for the coil -on-plug style they're one piece and no need to replace unless one dies and even then you just replace the bad one. The connectors on them can also have goofy locking connectors that are likely easy to break so just pay attention.
A torque wrench that will work with those small valve cover bolts will be a 3/8" one and be able to measure inch lbs. (Aka small values).
While this isn't a foolproof tip, if you call AutoZone, or Acura and ask if they have plug boots for your car and they say no that would be at least a decent indicator they're not normal maintenance items. Use that forum to search and see what they are if people are changing them.
Plug boots are the little grippy bits on your ignition coil that the spark plug fits into. They wear out eventually-- Rockauto.com has them, had to pop new ones on 06 rav4 because it got cranky after checking the spark plugs. (I'm not a mechanic, but a spiteful 01 Subaru owner who refused to dish out 5k for a gasket job and elected to diy.) OP, make sure you have your service manual for torque specs.
I assumed that by the name I just wasn't aware they were two pieces.
I would say Honda coils are darn reliable and if you aren't experiencing a problem, don't sweat it. They are easy to replace if that time ever comes. I've had a couple DOA aftermarket coils and certified parts were stupid expensive.
The plug boot mostly just keeps dirt out of the plug hole. It can degrade if the spark plug is failing allowing some blowby to heat things up.
Good, the prices I've seen for the coils would not make my wallet happy lmao. I might try @dmtalon@infosec.pub's suggestion and hit up Autozone about the boots
Autozone or Oreillys should also have a torque wrench to borrow for tightening the valve covers and intake (you rent it, but they only keep the money if you keep it too long so it’s free unless you forget to return on time).
Check rockauto.com!