blown gasket

ACURA95 · 06-27-04, 12:44

Today, I decided to detail my engine and completely degrease it. It was comming out great untill I moved on to the next step. My valve cover like most has some chips in the paint and is very noticable. So I decided to touch it up a bit with some hi temp black paint.
To my surprise as I started to pull each spark plug wire out, the third and fourth one had oil in them which must have leaked through the seals.
After closer observation, The valve cober gasket also had to be replaced. So after spending two hours detailing my engine bay, cleaning and oiling my KN and finishing all the rubber, now Ive got to change out the gasket and the seals and make a mess again.

I guess, it could be worse. I might not have found it at all and could cause some serious damage. Oh well, off the the auto parts store. Looks like I have a new project for the day

jrocc1212 · 06-27-04, 12:48

Good thing you caught that relatively early. Start your day as a detailer and end up as a mechanic... Good luck with your projects there.

ACURA95 · 06-27-04, 12:52

Thanks,
Im pretty good with my hands and used to fix cars as kind of a hobby. Right now, I think the worst thing that can happen is i start to miss fire but that can cause alot other future problems if I dont take care of it now.

ACURA95 · 06-28-04, 10:28

Update:
I picked up the new valve cover gasket and seals and went over to my friends house to work on it. I took off the valve cover replaced all four spark plug seals and the valve cover gasket and reconnected and closed everything up.

I turned to engine over and it started right up. To test to see if all four cylinders were firing, I started to pull each spark plug wire from the valve cover as to see if it missed. On the first spark plug wire the engine completely stopped. Uh oh, I think Im in trouble.

After testing it and trying to turn it over, I found it was no longer producing a spark, which means it can only be three things.
Checked the fused, and they were all fine. opened the distributer and checked the igniter and the ground was reading as power. Oh boy, I must have a problem some where. I take out the coil and it turns out the ignition coil is arching and just hapened to fail right at this time.
I had my car towed home last night, tow truck driver was the biggest a** and now I have to replace the damn coil.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Its like a fluke thing.

kartoon · 06-29-04, 02:58

What car is it ? Legend ?

I've had once a distributor and a timing belt failing at the same time on a Mitsu.
I've seen one or the other breaking down on other cars but I thought it was unusual that both broke down.

Prometheus · 07-03-04, 02:56

Prolly just a freaky coincidence. I've had a car (dad's actually) just get new springs and shocks, next day the gas tank falls out from under the back of the car as it's driving down the road. Go figure.