lindylex

I was in the process of replacing my valve cover gaskets and got stuck. The 4 rubber gaskets seem like they are vulcanized to the metal. Not sure if I used that word correctly. I tried pouring hot water on them. I also tried my heating gun. They did not work. Any ideas how to get these out?

My car is a 1997 Honda Civic LX sedan.

Thanks, Lex

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

On my 2002, I used a big ol' flat head screw driver and a hammer. Go in from the top, rest the screwdriver on the top of the seal, tap the sucker out. Should work the same on a 6thgen

edit: specified type of screw driver. I'm sure you can make other screw drivers work, but why try if you have a tool that'll work.

Colin42

This

lindylex

Sorry for the late response. Thanks I got it to work immediately after posting doing exactly what you said using a screw driver. I made a YouTube video for the pesky grommet.

I will post it later.

Thanks all.

old97civic

When you put the valve cover back on, be careful to line everything up properly and gently slide the cover down and that each seal is going over each tube. I changed these in 2014 and saw afterward that 2 seals had been pinched when reinstalling the valve cover. These leaked a bit of oil into the normally clean and dry spark plug well. Ended up having to redo those 2 as the lip of the seals had been torn. Running an oily finger around the inside of the seals helps them slide down the tubes. (like when you put a bit of oil on an oil filter gasket)

SSky ase master

I'm truly sorry to see this forum so inundated with misinformation, wrong info, wrong guesses and unfortunately so many uninformed opinions... I say unfortunately because I feel the people responding who've committed the previously mentioned "sins" did so with every good intention in mind or for moral support, which again isn't or couldn't be done in malice. It is better to have more heads I suppose to overcome the unknown, because in a head is where ideas are born. It's all great and it sort of works fine. But I, being the efficiency junkie I admit I am, find it all inspiring, wholesome, good and frustrating as hell... at the same time! Especially when you're already frustrated almost beyond logic, which to me is when you just start throwing money and new parts indiscriminately at your motor vehicle, without confirming component failure or for no gopd reason other than frustration... this is where the guessing game literally begins... i.e. member #1: "What other part, thing or component would cause these symptoms''... member #2: "Oh it could be this, that, blah, blah and blah, but only if blah blah... well you get the point. If I guess at something, its because I've exhausted all other known remedies and am using my training, knowledge of mechanical theory and 35 years of wrenching experience to come to the next step of diagnosing the issue. Folks, it's ok to say: I don't know. I do it all the time, other pros say it too, because even a master ase tech certified for decades, can't possibly know everything. I know they don't. Anyway to my original point of whether repair forums are extremely helpful or an exercise in frustration... I gotta say the jury's still out. However, some are much worse and some others are much better informed than the others. The searching for your particular issue is the most frustrating, time consuming task for all forums equally. But I wish that somehow the whole process could be expedited or made more efficient in it's presentation/operation, and yes, I realize I want that even though it's a totally voluntary (free) service. I guess I'm a glutton for efficiency, or a perfectionist or maybe what I think would be a better word (if it even IS a word), "precisionist". That being said, I'm here to help to the best of my knowledge and maybe seeking help of my own, from other members.