Was doing a valve adjustment and found this bull. I am really surprised that the car has been driven for so long as it is with this little hack and ive had no problems. Should have done a more thorough inspection of the car before buying it in September.

 

Does that crack go through on both sides of the cap ? hard for me to see in those pics, but it looks like a shallow crack. I guess it isn't just a casting mark, but a true crack ?

The hard part is that you can't buy replacement caps as those are specific to that head since they were originally line bored for each set of caps and head. I would loosen all caps and re-torque them to spec and hope all works out in the long run, which it likely will. You might be able to do a small welding job on that one cap if the crack is worrisome enough, for some extra rigidity, but someone who can weld Al properly. If it isn't a deep crack that runs to the other side you might be safe still.

 

Damn, that's some real ugly work.
Person that assembled that probably fully aware of the crack and problem and used that big washers to try and get even pressure on both sides of the crack.
I would back out the valve adjusters and carefully loosen all caps in steps, guessing there will be a lot of wear inside that cracked cap.

 

Thats not good !

 

OUCH!

 

Its cracked all the way through for now im gonna leave it alone till i have a new matching set and just run with it for a while longer

 

Proceed with caution!

 

This is really something and my first question would be exactly how it was broken? I am not the smartest tool in the box for sure but highly doubt welding it would work, instant distortion and can any weld be trusted?. As someone else said, if these are line bored specific to head you either replace the entire head or fix that cap as best you can. I wonder if two small cap screws tapped in at an angle with a slight counterbore for a shoulder would work? If vice locked into position when drilling/tapping and perfectly aligned? It might just work, but again, thinking of the best Band-Aid to continue using the head. And do I notice an alignment problem on far right with a gap between cam and cap?

 

The bolt may have been stripped as well from over-torque, hence the need for a washer under it, just a guess ?

 

I'm thinking the washer is there to apply more ridged pressure, but it actually is pushing the cap apart to the right? Even if they are line bored I wonder if just replacing the cap with any other would be close enough? Honda parts are never sloppy with tolerances and are probably so close to not make much of a difference. The alternative to replacing the head completely? I would definitely at least get a replacement cap first and at least try it, but that's just me. I definitely would not continue as is though.