Honda Repair: valve cover, valve cover gasket, honda accord

Question
October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.

October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.

October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.




October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.
October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.

October 20, 2007

I took my 1997 Honda Accord to the dealer for a manufacturer recall to check and replace some emission parts. As part of that visit Honda was to replace ignition wires and spark plugs and do an oil change for free.

The dealer called me and said there was oil in three cylinders and needed to replace the valve cover gasket for about $ 360. I think they meant oil was in the depression or well around the spark plugs? I did not authorize the work. The car drives fine, clear exhaust. It never lost much oil between changes, maybe part of a quart.

The cover   gasket goes around the perimeter of the cover. I see no oil on the engine body.  I lifted out the spaerk plug lead and tube on three cylinders qnd so no oil on the black tube or in the spark plug well.

How does the perimeter gasket figure into oil  at the plugs?  It just goes around the cover. Are there separate sealing  rings around the spark plug tubes  that the cover sits on? Would that be xause of the oil  leak if any?f

What is a reasonable price for the work including new cver gasket and new seals for the plugs?  Thanks

steven grant.  

Answer
There is separate gaskets for the spark plug tubes, four of the for each plug to be exact. After time these deteriorate and oil will leak into the spark plug tubes. This is a very common thing. The reason there was no oil in them when you pulled out the wires was when they changed the plugs the oil in the tubes drained into the cylinders, causing a smoked out shop for a few minutes after he started the car. It will take a little while for the oil to reappear. What will happen is the oil will cause the plug wires to deteriorate and eventually fail prematurely. As for the price, it seems a little high to me but that all varies on the that particular shops labor rate. Im guessing 100ish an hour at 3 hours with about 20 or thirty bucks for the parts.