stllrfast

Hi fellas, I don't post very often but I read a lot of posts. Here goes I have a 98 prelude and I'm hitting about 37k miles now. I went in for regular oil change etc. and they found a minor leak from one of the cams or something like that. The tech guy told me that the car needs a valve adjustment and its routine maintenance and it is something necessary especially for vtec engines.

Now I was just going in for a regular oil change and now I have to drop like $250 out of nowhere. Now I have the money and I have no problems spending the money on my baby but I wanna know I'm not getting ripped off. He said that'll I'll need a replacement for the leaky plug or whatever ($4) and I'll need a new valve cover ($100) etc., now I don't know why I need a new valve cover but that's what he said. He said I wouldn't wanna use the old parts on the car, might as well have everything new and not worry about anything for another 30k miles. So any help would be appreciated for a newbie. Thanx :cheers:

squee

I would say to this guy "youre an idiot" and then maybe go get a second opinion.

Cashis EG8

Valve Adjustment - yes
New Valve Cover - no way
New Valve Cover Gasket - maybe

The valve adjustment should cost you around $80.

Definately don't get your work done with this guy.

LudeBehavior

A valve adjustment is a good idea and a new valve cover GASKET is always a good idea when you have the valve cover off cuz they are only like 10 bucks. If the plug they are talking about is a cam seal, then the rest of the money is probably to replace that. The only other plug type thing I culd think of is maybe the little rubber things that go under the nuts that hold the valve cover on. I wouldn't let them replace the valve cover unless it has some kind of dent or crack where the gasket is which would make it seal improperly. Which I don't see happening on a car with that few miles. A completely new valve cover is not needed and would probably cost 250 by itself from a Honda dealer let alone all the other things they want to do. Get a detailed description of what they want to do and then post it here.

stllrfast

Thanx everyone for the responses. Now that I think about it the Honda tech guy meant the valve cover gaskets which he said wasn't necessary to replace but is a good idea to do so as long as you have the cover off. As for the cam seal he said it was like ($4) to replace, the rest of the cost is work hours. It was a tech guy, so he was giving me a high estimate. Besides I like to haggle a bit on pricing so I'm not too worried that I'll get eaten up. I'm gona go tomorrow and get it done. I'll post up and let you guys know. Thanx again

stllrfast

Ok now I'm getting pissed but I'm glad I didn't go in for the service this morning. I'm totally getting screwed on labor $89/hour but I knew that going in. But they are saying its like a 4 hour job, are you kidding me? The cam seals ($12) and VC gaskets ($45) and the labor is ($356). I thought from speaking to the tech guy it was only gona take about a couple of hours and he even suggested its gona be around $200 but $450 is a rediculous amount with parts that are only 12% of what I would be paying.

And the service guy was trying to sleaze out of every question I asked. This how it is for this reason and the tech guy was probably saying this because of this. What a bunch of BS...

Now does a job like that take 4 hours to complete, anyone know? Now I'm seriously considering somewhere else but I don't know a place that would do good work and use honda geniune parts, I need help plz.

LudeBehavior

Well I'm not sure if you have to remove the cam(s) to change the cam seals, but if you do then it would definitely be a longer job. A valve cover gasket should only cost about 15-20 tops. 45 seems quite high, unless they are trying to include all the little rubber grommett things that go under the bolts that hold the valve cover on There are 4 or 5 of those and they are like 4 bucks a pop at the dealer. See what a Fel-Pro gasket at an auto parts store for your car costs. As for the 89 bucks an hour, that seems high too for a Honda Dealer. I would think maybe 70, but 89 is high even for Chicago. Is there another Honda dealer you could take it to so that you could compare prices? You could always get an aftermarket gasket that is as good as a Honda gasket and some high quality aftermarket cam seals and then have a reputable shop do the work. Any decent shop can do a valve adjustment and change cam seals with no problem. That's what I would do if the dealer was trying to screw me over like that. Good Luck

ludeboom

yea **** that guy
that is a little too steep.
the local honda dealer by me wanted 100 to adjust my valves. but i just spent $40 on the special tool and did it myself.

i could see a cam seal taking 4 hours for a moron to do, cause they have to remove the timing belt and cam sprockets, unless they are supernatural and can somehow wedge that shit with the tensioner still installed.

either way i dont think the guy knows wat hes talkin about. a leaky cam seal is gonna cause oil to leak down the side of the timing assy cover and out from under the crank pulley area...and drip when the engine is idling.

is your car dripping/leaking oil?

because it sounds like he filled you up with complicated words like cam and seal, when in actuality u need your valves adjusted and your valvecover seal changed. which is a 40 minute job for me in my driveway.

there is also no way for him to diagnose the cam seals' and their condition without removing the E1 and I1 cam bridge. the ONLY other way for him to tell if the seal(s) are bad is if he sees oil on the T-belt or inside the T-belt cover, or if its leaking from below the crank pulley like i said before.

go somewhere else.

~boom

ludeboom

dont go anywhere other than honda to get your valves adjusted, unless u r doing it yourself (like me).

i heard of a guy near me that had a b18 hatch, and he took it to some shop to get the valves adjusted. soon after...the clacking came back and it started to run like shit also.
popped the valvecover and all 16 adjustment locknuts were gone
popped the oil pan and recovered 15 of em

still 1 locknut floatin around somewhere in that head.

ive heard stories like that several times
not too many regular mechanics seem to know much about DOHC VTEC motors.

~boom

squee

HAHAHA holy Sh*t.