Its 16 lb-ft for the 12mm, and 9 lb-ft for the 10 mm I have a workshop book and I checked the numbers thats the torques specs. Vote this comment up so people will see it.

Just did this job today on my 96 accord. This video was really helpful. 3 of my four spark plug wells were flooded with oil. Used a blunt tip syringe to get all the oil out of the spark plug wells before I unscrewed the spark plugs so it wouldn't get all down in the cylinders. Once I got to the seals, they were super brittle. If I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed they were made of cheap plastic. One huge mistake I made was taking all the fasteners out of the rocker arm assembly. I believe Eric even has a note not to do this. If you take them out/let them fall out, the mechanism is spring loaded and the rocker arms will slide along the bars and get all wacked out. I had to use a soft mallet to get the rocker arms back into alignment which took a decent amount of time. I called a few local mechanics and they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked if they could replace my lower spark plug seals under the rocker arms. Thanks to this video, I decided to just do it myself, saved money, and learned a few things.

Wonderful Eric! I have learned so much from your videos, especially this one. As a woman, it's very hard for me to walk into an auto shop and get a quote for a grand for just about anything that needs to be done. I'm not down with being ripped off and thanks to you I've saved thousands in repairs on all of my cars.

Confident, laid back, helps the viewers feel like they can accomplish what he's describing. All great attributes of a good instructor. When I have a choice, I'm going to pick Eric everytime. Good videos

Now that I've replaced the gasket under the rocker arm assembly, my 1995 Honda Odyssey no longer has oil seeping into the spark plug wells. Thank you for posting this video.

6:17 "Don't be scared." - How did he know what I was thinking? :-)

@jrmym2 It's been getting harder to keep up but I'm glad I was able to make the correction. Thanks for your comments.

@bumblebeecbr I always love hearing how my work helps people. Thanks very much for your comment.

Hi Eric, thanks to your video my brother and I were able to do this job on our own. All our spark plug wells were drowning in oil but car gave no noticeable symptoms. I only noticed when I decided to do a spark plug change. The spark plug gaskets were melted and all the o rings on the lower level brittle but looked fine at first. We followed all your instructions and it was a complete success...... keep up the good work. We appreciate your time and work to produce this video.......... I am driving a 97 Honda accord SE with 231000 miles. I will let you know when it reaches 460000 miles

Thank you so much for the video. All the little hints and clues on what to look for when reinstalling worked out so perfectly. Everything went smooth. Thank you my man, Thank you!

@trixxxstr I'm happy to help, thanks for your comments.

@projectcortez I'm happy to help, thanks for the comment.

Love your videos!!! You've saved me sooo much money since buying my 95 civic...so thank you. You need to mention one thing in regards to the gaskets. When calling your dealer/ local auto parts store for the COMPLETE gasket kit make sure that it includes the lower spark plug tube seals ( only thing I know to call them).....ONLY one store knew of which I was talking about (including dealer), the rest told me I just needed the valve cover gasket, 4 grommets, and 3 tube seals that came in kit. One place in particular, smyth near our neck of the woods, told me that he disagreed and that was all he needed when he did his tear down. In summary, fellow viewers be specific when requesting the gaskets and hopefully you don't run into an arrogant ass as I did. Thanks again for all the great videos Eric

I don't see how you can stay so mellow when things aren't going your way I always use foul language and call the parts real bad names

@Flyingsheep That's why I didn't take them out in the video, should have mentioned that. Glad you got it fixed though, thanks for your comment.

@fishycomics Glad you liked it, thanks for the info and the comment.

92 accord my engine was over heating. found a busted hose. But while looking seen the spark plug wore sticking up. Had oil in all 4 spark plug wells. went from a busted hose to changing head gasket to changing the cam to painting the car and now it's sitting with a for sale sign on it. also was converted from auto to a manual tranny from a 98 accord. non vtec with some balls.

The torque specs according to my Hanes Manual for the 10mm bolts are 108 in-lbs and the 12mm bolts are 16 ft-lbs. When I tried the spec described in this video I broke one of my 12mm bolts. For thos bolts all you really have to do is tighten the 12mm bolts to 16 ft-lbs and hand tighten the 10 mm bolts. Please make corrections so no one goes through the same. I love the vids and continue to view them. (1990 Honda Accord DX Fully Rebuilt)

@hutchakai Yes I believe this would also work on that engine. The seals are referred to as 'spark plug well seals' to the best of my knowledge. I recommend getting them from Honda as they have the best parts for this repair.

@Zubirrex I call them tube seals. I recommend getting them from Honda as they seem to work the best.

You are the best KZfaq mechanic I've seen.

Some extra notes on the process that might help: -If your spark plug wells are flooded with oil, taking off the valve cover first (and even the rocker assembly) gives better access to get the oil out with a syringe or towel. You do not need to remove the spark plugs to remove the valve cover or rocker assembly. -It is 9 ft lbs torque for the 10mm bolts and 16 ft lbs for the 12mm bolts, like that other comment and the Hanes manual says. -There is a tiny vertical hole on the left side of the rocker assembly where the valve cover gasket goes. I used a small screwdriver to pry the left side up from there. And, boy do I have a story to tell. One year ago, I had a shop change my timing belt on my 93 Accord (same model as this video). They said "hey there's oil in the spark plug wells" and would only charge me for the valve cover gasket part, not labor, so I agreed. Flash forward to a couple months ago, there is oil in the spark plug wells again and I find this video. The engine is also misfiring, which is why I checked the spark plugs. Turns out those lower seals were not replaced. I get down to them and they snap like cheap plastic. I guess the moral is don't trust anyone at all with your vehicle. Eric your video is a lifesaver and helped me do this so much. I had only dealt with some suspension parts before, never down and dirty inside the engine, so this gave me the confidence to do this right. One of the spark plug coils had a crack in it and I had no idea how old the spark plugs were, so I changed those out too. No leaks, and no misfiring any more. And I only used RTV on the corners of the valve cover gasket just like you said. :)

Thank You Eric for the videos. I bought Toyota Camry's for my two older daughters and am pretty comfortable working on them, I bought a 96 Accord with an F22B2 (?) for my youngest and will be doing this job along with setting the valves tomorrow. (I did the timing belt/water pump today). Thanks again.

This was my first repair video I seen from you in 2012 when I was fixing my 88 Civic. Still watch this video just cause it's awesome! Cool to see where you came from.

Would you mind posting a link to get the o-rings? I'm having trouble locating them. Thanks!!!!! And really great videos btw!

"You know who I am." -Eric, 1.3M subs later

@captainvlog I've just seen it a lot is all. Thanks for the comment.

I still love watching this video. I did this job on my 96 Accord LX almost 10 years ago because of this video. I would have never had the balls to attempt it until watching this because I had never worked on my own car before. The seals no longer leaked for the 7+ years I had the car after that before it finally died at 318k. Thanks again Eric!!

Its 9ft torque on the 10MM incase anyone breaks a bolt and needs to know

So where can you find the replacement seals?

Ok... so I was super nervous to tackle this project on my 94 accord but it turned out great! Thank you so much for your video on "what to do", "what not to do" and "what to expect". You just saved me and my family a huge mechanic bill! And, I know it was done correctly! You rock!!!

@chismca Thank you very much for that comment I really appreciate it.

hey people if your gonna do this job yourself make sure the camshaft is rotated to the right position before you remove the rocker arm assembly. the end of the cam has a flat slot that fits into the distributor if its pointing straight up and down and still under the tension of the timing belt you could pull the cam out with the rocker arms and screw the engine timing :(

Oh man... I got this exact problem with my accord... I wonder if I dare to tare the thing apart...

Thank you Eric. I managed to get my rings replaced as well ad the top seals, and I did the valve cover gasket as well. Now Im looking at your videos for starter switches and fuel relay switches. You give me the confidence to be able to do these things on my own.

@RemarkableVideos Yes there is and it normally comes with a valve cover gasket, in fact you could consider them part of the valve cover gasket. In my experience if there is a great deal of oil in the well replacing the valve cover seals may not be enough so I normally tell people with this condition that we can replace the valve cover gaskets and see what it looks like in a month or so, if there is still oil in the wells after that I perform this procedure.

just recently fixed my head gasket but now it's like I'm getting fluid on my plugs

will this leak cause my honda to kinda jerk around while driving ?

@pHILLYYYY It will leak eventually and you should replace it. Depends how far the bolt is broken off inside the nut how you would go about getting it out. The studs are actually part of a longer bolt that holds the cam cage on and is pretty easy to replace. Use a 1/4 to install the nuts next time and that will help prevent breakage.

@181884silvia I'm happy to help, thanks for the comment.

Thank you for this video; I encountered this problem on my 92 accord ex with h23 IM. I kept thinking that my FITV and/or IAC was dirty again, or my EGR was clogged. Did all of these and my hesitation was still occuring; when the EGR system was cleaned, I started noticing the plug wire popping out. This job was a pain, mostly because I was semi-paying attention during the video and did not see the comment about the fasteners - took them out, lifted on cage and bam, ends came off. Took about 1.5-2hrs to fix it all.

@RickieToronto High complements indeed, thank you very much for that comment.

@s0nnyburnett This is actually a common problem especially on engines that got infrequent oil changes, I would change the seals both top and bottom and see if the condition still exists.

@llerar1000 Good luck and thanks for the comment, take your time on that valve adjustment and you should be fine.

Eric, Thanks for this super awesome video. I did both the upper and lower seals yesterday on my step-daughters 1996 Accord DX. This video was spot on and answered many questions that a shop manual cannot touch...I learned a lot. Cheers,

@Syrius187 I would actually recommend going with OE parts for this, they really aren't that expensive and it's a much better part.

THANK YOU ERIC! This was a fun job. I appreciate how you explain what's important and WHY it's important. This job went exactly like it was supposed to go--no surprises. It's the first time I saw inside of an engine. People kept telling me not to mess with it (even the guy at the parts store! Sexist!) but I'm glad I did. It wasn't that hard, and the lower tube seals were totally crumbling apart. And I learned a lot! With patience everything lined up perfectly and I'm completely confident that I did it right.

@pbestus0730 In fact this will work on the civic too as some models have a very similar design. I just take a small pry bar and catch a corner under one of the cage assemblies and pry up slightly to get things started and that usually does the trick. Good luck and I hope the fix helps your problem.

@daonenonlyNINJA I'm happy to help, thanks for the comment.

Thanks as always for an extremely helpful video. I performed this repair on my '96 Accord without problems, due to your help! Re-installing the rocker arm was the trickiest part for me, since alignment has to be exact for it to slip back into place. Valve adjustment wasn't fun, either, but fortunately only a few valves were out of recommended tolerances. Thanks again. Big smile when it started right up!

@stonent That's why I left the bolts in, if you take them out the springs force the assembly to come apart, hence the annotation in the video.

@jonpallan I think you may have the seal in too far so you might want to reposition it. As I said before not all parts are created equal so you might want to see if you can track down an OE part. The only place that sealant should go is on the corners of the valve cover gasket in my opinion.

Thanks! I've had my '96 Accord since 2008, and I'm about to have to replace these seals for the second time. I appreciate the recommendations for no sealant and to tap the rocker assembly to be sure it's seated properly.

@SLEEPER98RT That answer is actually a bit longer than I have space for here but if you like watch the video I did on VTEC to give you some better idea of how the system works. Your right, that does sound like a good idea for a future video. Thanks for the comment.

@GeometryWars TDC won't matter but when you take the cage off you have to leave the fasteners in place if not the assembly will come apart. In your case it may not be lined up correctly or one of your 'o' rings may be out of place. If everything is right it should go together like in this video, if not, stop and recheck everything as if you mess this up your going to have to take the head to a machine shop for repair or worse you may have to replace it.

@JBot307 Those are for the valve cover grommets, the go under the fasteners that hold the valve cover on.

I think Eric's videos provide a great starting point for us fix-it guys. I however do not expect them to be a be-all end-all solution to all my problems therefore I do consult the specific tech spec's for my vehicles and appreciate what his experiences provide at face value. Thanks Eric

thank you Eric very helpful, I just finished replacing original Orings on 17yr old Honda Accord 292,000miles. your warning to loosen outside then inside bolts allowed rocker arm to lift straight out. your warning to check the alignment of rocker arms to valve stem or risk damaging valves was great. I hand cranked the engine and watched each rocker arm depress a valve stem before starting engine

Thank you, Eric! My 91 Honda Accord had oil in the spark plug wells and I suspected the lower tube gaskets were the culprit. After removing the rocker arm assembly they appeared to be flattened and brittle. The valve cover gasket gave me the most problems. Regardless this video helped me all the way through. You’re the man!

@trucker11686 Awesome, I love it when my videos help people. Thanks for the comment.

Thanks so much. It really help me when all else was failing. I looked and looked for a video that explains what other seals are involved. No more leak by replacing these 4 little gaskets on the bottom of the "Rib Cage"

@cddisshort Yea the OE gasket is much better for the valve cover. Thanks for the comment.

Thanks so much for your help. I did this job about 3 months ago on my '93 LX. I ended up with 4 extra seals and couldn't figure out where they went. Now i know what they're for. Im going to tackle this job correctly thanks to you. Keep up the good work bud

@wkbogan Actually if you have the VTEC engine I don't believe it has this set up, I think it uses tubes that go all the way into the head instead of this split design. If you have a leak in that type I would start with the valve cover seals, make sure they are installed correctly as it can be confusing to determine how those go in.

hey Eric, thanks for this video. I had this same problem with my 96 accord and I just changed the upper and lower seals today. You definately gave me the confidence to attempt this myself and everything went together perfectly. I watched your video about 3 times before I did the job just to make sure I wasnt over looking anything! Thanks again man, your awesome!

@JMAE881 Iv'e seen that but I was not aware that it was a habitual problem. I would do a compression and leak down test to see what kind of shape the engine is in, if it seals well you might have a problem with valve seals causing the consumption issue.

@Sethmatuu I recommend getting them from the Honda dealer, they are better parts anyway.

@818blue818 Either way the threads are probably destroyed and your going to have to do some sort of thread repair. I've had to do this myself and it only lasted a short time, you might consider getting it fixed at a machine shop or replace the head for best results.

@NTL1991 I don't like that either that's why I try to put as much info into my videos as I can. Thanks for the comment.

@cmk61991 I love it when my work helps people, thanks for the comment.

@jrmym2 The annotation has been made, thanks for pointing that out.

I did this job on my 90 accord and it was so simple thanks to you, I had never been under a hood prior to this and I was able to finish it, thanks so much man I really appreciate you putting this up!!!

I have a 2000 Honda Accord with a 3.0 in it that the number three cylinder on that spark plug Port was quite full of oil. So I watched your video and got enough information off of what you did that I'm comfortable to go ahead with it now. I figured it was something along that line but I wasn't expecting the one under the cam pillars either. Thanks for your help great video.

Thank you for the info. After changing the fuel pump by not pulling the tank, and still having an issue, I checked the plug area and found the leakage there in all locations. I'm new to Honka, so with each lesson I learn, it keeps me at peace as I go down the road, whenever that may be now. It could very well be an electronic issue since the oil in the plugs has been happening since I got the car last Jan. But I'll be back soon with my next issue on the 1992 Honda Accord. Thanks again.

@stonent It sounds like this is what you need to do then, good luck.

Big Thanks Eric- this is exactly what the problem was on my 91 Honda Accord, the oil in the spark plugs and holes, new valve cover gasket and still leaking oil, and the engine had a miss at times, exactly what you said the problem was. Thanks again 🍻

Ericthecarguy, i bought an accord and I did because i knew if something went wrong with it i can simply go to your forums or watch some of your tutorials/videos ;D thanks dude! you got the best info.

@for2utube Been there myself a time or 2. Thanks for the comment.

@infantmech If your not careful your going to ruin that head. It is absolutely imperative that you make sure everything is lined up correctly and tighten everything evenly, if not you'll be buying a new head or worse yet a new engine. P.S. Don't forget to use engine pre-lube on everything before final assembly.

@tonymontana2484 Just go to the 'Fix It' page on my website at EricTheCarGuy and you will be able to download it from there. If you have any trouble just let me know.

Great video Eric. Following your steps I just completed this job on my car. All 4 of my plug tubes were absolutely drowning in oil.

@heyjustthetip Lets just say I've done this a few times. Thanks for the comment.

I have a 1993 Honda Accord LX coupe 5 speed and previously a 1992 DX auto with a/c and a 2002 EX-L and I love watching you work on them. You have an innate way of connecting with your viewers and keeping my attention.

@MrTheStiffmeister Yea, got one of those 'cold air intakes'? If so do you have the relief valve? If not you may have just killed your engine, it takes less than a second to hydrolock an engine, the danger is that it normally bends a connecting rod, it will run for a while and then at some point the bent rod will break and come through the side of the block, I've seen this a bunch of times. I'd be doing a compression test to see where your at.

@SystemXpander I believe so yes but go by the ones in the annotation NOT the video.

Thank you brother you’re awesome! For your honesty and transparency. Be encouraged you’re one of the best. Ed

@saulanibal1 No need to worry about that as you do not disconnect the timing belt at all.

@cotick Won't make any different at all but if you have a problem and the cam gets out of time it will be harder to put it back in.

@EricTheCarGuy No problem Eric! Your videos and tips have made me attempt more DIY repairs that seemed more daunting than they really were.

@kirilchuk Without hearing the noise it's almost impossible for me to tell what the issue is but since you just did all that work I would go back and look it over for anything that sticks out.

@nubster02 Sorry to hear about that, if it makes you feel better I lost my job as a mechanic because someone I worked with ruined an engine doing this very thing, long story.

@junrems I believe it will. Good luck.

I like Watching Eric’s old videos shows how much he’s progressed.

@zhour123 I would first be looking for any leaks especially at the drain plug and oil filter, if those are good then perhaps do a compression test to check the mechanical health of the engine. Lastly be sure you use the correct oil as oil that is too thin will burn off more quickly.

@pdlilly1 It's important to use quality parts and install them correctly. DO NOT use RTV to seal them.

@mishakol129 I didn't read the instructions sorry but I've done it successfully this way for years. I recommend the valve adjustment as removing that cam retainer can alter the clearances so at the very least I think they should be checked.

Your awesome brother you have that “I’m so f****** glad to be here” attitude. I can relate . Thanks this video helped me out for sure.

Old school ETCG, back when you kept it dirty! I miss that guy! God bless!!!

Thanks Eric, you saved me some money. Just finished this repair on my 1997 accord. Couldn't have done it without your instructions. The o rings were rock hard and shattered like plastic!.

Thanks for the video, it was a huge help and easy to follow and understand. I made a mistake, I tightened the bolts for the cover too much and broke one of the bolts, but you did mention not to do that, I wish I had paid more attention.