Was out driving the other day when suddenly i sounded like a machine gun! and the engine management was flashing.

The recovery driver plugged his computer in and got code P1399, and tested that cylinder number two had no spark. suggested it was the coil pack.

We limped it home, as was only a few miles.

i took the coil out and noticed it was covered in oil (at this point my heart stopped!), then i noticed the spark plug gasket had completely failed!






number one also is distorted, These were brand new pattern gaskets fitted last november.

Ive ordered 4 new Honda gaskets and a new coil to fit.

Has anyone seen this before? Anything else i should be worried about which could have caused this? Im sure i torqued the cover correctly.

Cheers

 

whoever reinstalled the valve cover didn't properly guide the seals around the outside of the spark plug tubes, and yes it's very common

 

this man speaks the truth.

 

Yep pretty much, the spark plug towers are very sharp so when you tq down the VC without the gaskets over the tubes they rip. Gotta finger it till the seal clears the spark plug tower.

 

i always rub a small amount of oil in the seal lip and the sharp tip of the spark plug towers. Then i slowly work the seal down over the tube with rubber gloves until the entire seal is around the tower.

good luck

darcy

 

Isn't this a case of inadequate torque on the plug that then loosened? Sounds like the failures some had on '00 cars because the torque spec was wrong and they came out of the factory ready to fail. There was a TSB... I realized as soon as I paged through the service manual it was inadequate and re-torqued mine very early.

 

removing and retorquing the plugs won't affect the gasket. But you do want to be sure your plug torque is NOT 13lbft. I have mine at 19-20 llbft

darcy

 

Having a plug back out won't ruin the seal, so much as the coil packs, and possibly the engine itself.

 

Thanks guys, looks like it was my fault!

Just re-fitted the new gaskets re-fitted the cover, this time i oiled the gaskets and used a screwdriver to slip the gaskets over the plug tubes, which i didn't do last time.




On another note, i put a voltage indicator pen over the coil packs and noticed my nice new coil pack gives a much bigger pulse.
Does this mean the other 3 are on there way out? And should i just replace them so I've got 4 new ones?

I don't know if its related to this or not, but the car is louder than it used to and pops on the over-run which it didn't before?

 

Yes Honda replaced a number of engines in '00 because the plugs would back out and pieces of ceramic insulator would wind up in the cylinder. This is an important torque spec and I always tighten plugs to 20 lbs.