Lude Generation

The cylinder head cover (valve cover) had to be removed a few times during June & July 2013 due to accidently breaking a spark plug due to over tightening it and when adjusting the valve clearances. Subsequently, the 13.5 years old cylinder head cover rubber seal was starting to leak oil. A new gasket / seal set from Honda is unsurprisingly very expensive at £97.43. The full set (12030-P13-000) consists of:

• 1 x gasket (12341-P13-000),
  4 x spark plug orifice seals / O-rings (12342-PT2-000),
  8 x washers incorporating rubber seals (90442-PR7-A00).

I purchased an aftermarket set made by BG Automotive (BGA) through Amazon for just £16.37 including P&P at the end of July 2013. The BGA part number is RK5363. Unfortunately, while fitting it, the main gasket became displaced and I lost one of the four spark plug orifice seals / O-rings causing the engine to sound like vacuum cleaner and to lose a lot of oil! As one of the spark plug orifice seals / O-rings was lost, I purchased another whole set. Disappointingly at the beginning of August 2013 the price on Amazon had increased so I purchased the new set through eBay for £13.42 + £7.50 P&P.

Over the following months, the cylinder head cover gasket continued to leak oil. I removed it a number of times, degreased the surface of the cylinder head where it makes contact, applied sealant and it persisted in leaking. Put this into contrast to the original Honda seal:- during August 2010, I resprayed my car's cylinder head cover Ruby Red Pearl to match the bodywork. I reused the original seals which were 10.5 years old and I didn't use any sealant whatsoever and it never leaked at all for years. It only started leaking after the cover was removed a few times during June & July 2013.

While getting my car's bushes replaced with ES polyurethane bushes last month at Performance Autoworks, I asked them to diagnose a separate oil leak which was narrowed down to both the VTEC solenoid housing gasket and cam seal end plug. It was also noted that the cylinder head cover gasket was leaking slightly which I was aware of. Rich at Performance Autoworks said that he had experienced a few different aftermarket gasket sets and none are as good as the original Honda items.

A couple of weeks ago while replacing the VTEC solenoid housing gasket and cam seal end plug, I replaced the BGA seals with original Honda items (1 x gasket = 22.26 & 4 x spark plug orifice seals / O-rings = £18.67). Two weeks later, I'm relieved to say that not a drop of oil has leaked. I kept the 8 x washers incorporating rubber seals from BGA as they are OK. Although, I should note that their diameters is slightly smaller than the original Honda items, maybe by about 1 or 2mm. They fit and do their job, but there is a ring around them on the cylinder head cover where the original Honda items had been fitted.

Maybe the leaking BGA cylinder head cover gasket I had was just a one off, however this was my personal experience which others might want to take into account when replacing theirs.

Good write up, sometimes you've got to bite the bullett and buy from Honda.

Also, there wasn't any visible defects with the BGA gasket, so it wasn't obvious why it persisted in leaking. But the BGA rubber did seem harder than the softer Honda rubber which is the likely root cause here.

I have these on both my Ludes. I did have an issue on my road car but I did not leave the sealer to dry long enough before driving. I then resealed it. The one on my track car is fine and has never leaked.

Merlin wrote:I have these on both my Ludes. I did have an issue on my road car but I did not leave the sealer to dry long enough before driving. I then resealed it. The one on my track car is fine and has never leaked.

So there you go. I'm aware that I'm not the only one here to use this set as I know of others here who have used them too, so it seems I might just have been unlucky?

Anyway, I thought I should post my experience and Rich's professional opinion for others to take into account if theirs need replacing.

Thanks for the info carrisma.
Rubber hardens with age and if not stored correctly (temp/humidity). It may be that the BGA seal you got had been on the shelf for longer or not stored correctly?

That's all hypothesis of course and personal experience is very valuable.

i using them often without any problem, but i do use old trick of 2 stage torque bolt down

From my experience there is no better seals then OEM ones. And I'm using only them. They cost more but they worth it

jozefsan wrote:i using them often without any problem, but i do use old trick of 2 stage torque bolt down

Yep, and I tightened the bolts in the correct sequence as per the workshop manual. Proper OCD!

CARRisma wrote:

jozefsan wrote:i using them often without any problem, but i do use old trick of 2 stage torque bolt down

Yep, and I tightened the bolts in the correct sequence as per the workshop manual. Proper OCD!

its not OCD its how it should be done, but trick is tight to spec warm up and tight again to spec, i do this all the time and never had problem with any gaskets at all. yes manufactures gasket is best but that only with jap manufactures.