Head gasket questions

[Angus]

Here's a plan - do the rocker cover gasket yourself. Get one of the rocker gasket sets that has the seals for the spark plug holes too, because it sounds like you may be leaking oil down one of them.

That'll stop your oil leak from the rocker cover, and also any oil getting down to the plugs from above.

For the price of around 30 quid you'll stop those leaks - and that might well be what your problem is. You might have oil contamination in the end of the HT lead which goes to the oily spark plug, so give it a clean out with a cotton bud or something. Remove the offending plug and clean it up too - the colour of the tip will give an indication of whether it's burning oil. New plugs probably not a bad idea too if budget allows!

And remember to put dobs of silicon on the corners of the new gasket where it goes round the curved camshaft end bit thingies.

Could be piston rings, but could be that it's a lot more easily sortable than a garage guy will tell you!

[Bludge]

I think i will give the rocker cover and and plug holes a go myself.

Is this the right set for the 4th gen?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rocker-Cover- ... 4ac46afc99

And is the gasket the rubber seal they refer to in the manual yeah? page 6-3 of the 62ss020.pdf?

Also, do i need to used the silicon on both sides of the gasket? or just one? i was planning on taking the rocker cover off again at somepoint to paint it as it looks a bit tatty, would i need to use a new gasket again?

[h10ndr]

Your mechanic was probably talking about valve stem seals.

[Bludge]

yeah you may be right. i thought 150 to do that and the head gasket was pretty good. but will still try the rocker cover gasket myself first and see what happens from there.

[Angus]

That looks like the right gasket set to me. It says H22, so canna be far off.

You only really need silicon at the sharp corners where it goes round the rounded cam bits (will become obvious when you see them) - but I usually stick a few dobs here and there to hold it in place when replacing the rocker cover. You don't need much, just a "dob".

You won't be able to see exactly where it's going at the timing belt side, so best to be sure it's holding in place while you manouevre the cover back into position. You should get away with re-using it if you take the cover off again - best not overdo the silicon on the "outside" edge so that it'll come straight off and not end up tearing itself because it's stuck to both the head and the cover next time.

Don't overtighten the rocker cover bolts when doing them up again. I've cracked a Celica rocker cover thinking I'd get them nice and tight in the past. No excessive force required.

And yeah - "rubber seals" on page 6-3.

[Bludge]

Unfortunately the listing for that set ended before i got around to buying it, and the only other one i can find is 37 quid. now i can get the rocker cover gasket for about 11 from a local motor factor, but im having trouble finding the spark plug seals. any one know where i can get them on their own? or what the part number is?

[Bludge]

right, getting the seals tomorrow but cant get the gasket until next week. i need to make a 60 odd mile round trip on sunday so i was wondering if i could use something like this http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1 as a temporary measure on the leaking edge?

[h10ndr]

Search for BGA RK5363 for h22 gasket set. £19 delivered.

[Bludge]

wicked thanks mate. i got the spark plug seals from honda this morning at almost £5 each. got the set ordered on ebay.

So i whipped the rocker cover off and it became obvious where all the oil has been coming from. half the rubber grommets were missing, and the ones that were on there were badly deteriorated. in place of the missing ones were metal washers and other bits and peices.

One of the nuts was also the wrong one but unfortunately i didnt notice until it went back on and threaded. any ideas of how that get that back off?

The actual rocker cover gasket looked in pretty good condition, and i have reseated it and used a bit of silicone, so hopefully the oil wont be leaking too bad for my 60 mile round trip tomorrow. and will change all the other bits when the set arrives.

[h10ndr]

U dont want any slithers of silicon to break loose and get in the engine. I found a string of silicon in the oil pickup filter of one of my old h22 engines. I think it was the cause of my oil pressure issues. New gaskets will sort it all for u. Dont use any silicon.