alva99

my 99 accord ex has 188000 miles and an oil leak. i think it's fro the valve cover. just the other day i checked the oil and it was 1 quart low, i added the quart of oil it needed, after about 3 days later i checked the oil again and it was a quart low again. i havent seen any smoke come out of the tail pipe when i start the car, could it be that i need a valve adjustment as well as replacing the valve cover gasket, or do i have bigger problem?

mopar1

could be oil rings or valve seals good way to check rings is a compresion test,as far as the valve seals go if they are leaking then you should get a puff of smoke when you start up and then die down as you start driving it.

RickMN

You're not going to see any blue smoke from the tailpipe because the cat converter burns it all up. However, if it is burning oil, that's really hard on the converter. Can destroy it. A valve cover gasket is easy to replace. You'll need a new gasket and a small tube of automotive RTV sealant. Remove the cover. Throw out the old gasket. Clean the mating surfaces with brake cleaner. Apply a dab of RTV and the sharp corners around the camshaft. Insert gasket into valve cover and reinstall cover. You will probably have to disconnect the hoses and cables that attach to the valve cover. Also, do NOT forget to reinstall the ground strap to the valve cover.