Almost had a very bad day.

[owequitit]

Since Sunday, I have smelled this slight gassy odor after driving for awhile.

Today, it started to get somewhat worse on the way home from work.

So I get home and pop the hood and start tracing the smell.

I see fluid all over the fuel rail, IM, valve cover, and hood.

I think "great> what happened, did an injector seal or something go bad?!?!"

I also heard this slight sound that was similar to the sound of blow by when you take the oil cap off, only it was quieter.

So I started checking.

The valve cover nut that is right in the middle on the back was loose.

The seal was pressurizing and allowing oil to be blown out of the VC, creating the mess in my bay.

Cause: I readjusted the valves for the first time on Sunday after I changed the head. When I did it the first time, I went loose just to be safe, and I wasn't very accurate, because I didn't have a tool that would reach down in there very well, so I had to improvise. I bought the adjustment tool, and went to town on Sunday. I forgot to tighten that nut.

Contributing factors: Stupidity, Carelessness, and lack of a thorough double check.

I checked every one but that one, and assumed that since I have gone in the correct pattern, I MUST have got it. I did not.

I lost almost 1/2 quart of oil between Sunday and today when I found it. Had I driven all week and ignored it, well the outcome isn't hard to figure out.

[chessboxer]

good to hear that you got everything taken care of via minimal effort. it reminds me of when we put on the skunk 2 adjustable cam gear without first tightening the bolts that allow for adjustment of the cam gear. hello 15 degrees of retarded timing and a car that would not start.

[Lil' Whitie]

wow good save. glad u caught it and fixed the problem in time.


once i forgot to put my oil cap on and good thing i noticed the smell before it was too late, lost a full quart and now have a really messy engine bay.

[owequitit]

good to hear that you got everything taken care of via minimal effort. it reminds me of when we put on the skunk 2 adjustable cam gear without first tightening the bolts that allow for adjustment of the cam gear. hello 15 degrees of retarded timing and a car that would not start.

Yeah, minimal effort was good.

I was just kind of mad at myself, because I am usually by training so anal retentive about double checking myself.

Oh well, it happens.

Thank god I didn't decide to just keep on driving.

Of course, the first sign would have been the fact that VTEC wouldn't have engaged.

But that could have been days down the road...

Ok. Maybe 1 day down the road.

LOL!

And of course, it was 1/2 a quart of Mobil1's finest, so it isn't exactly cheap to do stuff like that.

[owequitit]

wow good save. glad u caught it and fixed the problem in time.


once i forgot to put my oil cap on and good thing i noticed the smell before it was too late, lost a full quart and now have a really messy engine bay.

Yeah, it was the smell that originally clued me in.

I was thinking, "man, there is NO way I can be running that rich."

Oddly, it didn't smell like burning oil, and it never smoked. I think the mist was so fine that it didn't really run everywhere, and luckily it wasn't enough to saturate my engine bay.

[erok515]

It happens to the best of us.

[turbomaxx]

lol, hey man at least u found it. time to clean! haha.

[Gemini]

I forgot to put the oil cap on once.....I caught it in time I also forgot to put the radiator cap on once and notice after speeding my ass off and then start to smell burning coolant....that was a lucky one too. It happens to best of us bro...luckily you cant it in time because Hs are not cheap!

[bowzil]

Since Sunday, I have smelled this slight gassy odor after driving for awhile.

Today, it started to get somewhat worse on the way home from work.

So I get home and pop the hood and start tracing the smell.

I see fluid all over the fuel rail, IM, valve cover, and hood.

I think "great> what happened, did an injector seal or something go bad?!?!"

I also heard this slight sound that was similar to the sound of blow by when you take the oil cap off, only it was quieter.

So I started checking.

The valve cover nut that is right in the middle on the back was loose.

The seal was pressurizing and allowing oil to be blown out of the VC, creating the mess in my bay.

Cause: I readjusted the valves for the first time on Sunday after I changed the head. When I did it the first time, I went loose just to be safe, and I wasn't very accurate, because I didn't have a tool that would reach down in there very well, so I had to improvise. I bought the adjustment tool, and went to town on Sunday. I forgot to tighten that nut.

Contributing factors: Stupidity, Carelessness, and lack of a thorough double check.

I checked every one but that one, and assumed that since I have gone in the correct pattern, I MUST have got it. I did not.

I lost almost 1/2 quart of oil between Sunday and today when I found it. Had I driven all week and ignored it, well the outcome isn't hard to figure out.

So, if you have an improper valve adjustment, you car can run rich? Because this might be one of my problem, too. Can this cause lack of power? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

[owequitit]

So, if you have an improper valve adjustment, you car can run rich? Because this might be one of my problem, too. Can this cause lack of power? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I suppose if it was bad enough it could change the fuel air mixture to run slightly rich.

The ECU assumes normal airflow from normally adjusted valves, so I suppose it could matter a little bit, but I don't think it would be anything earth shattering.

More than anything, it just affects the airflow into and out of the cylinder.

Honda ECU's tend to run rich out of the box for extra safety margin.

[owequitit]

lol, hey man at least u found it. time to clean! haha.

It really didn't make much of a mess, and I cleaned most of it up with a rag.

I need to clean it soon anyway though, so I will just get it then.

[owequitit]

I forgot to put the oil cap on once.....I caught it in time I also forgot to put the radiator cap on once and notice after speeding my ass off and then start to smell burning coolant....that was a lucky one too. It happens to best of us bro...luckily you cant it in time because Hs are not cheap!

LOL!

Luckily, I haven't had that happen!

And yeah, that is why I was happy I caught it. $$$.