I had the valve cover gasket replaced on my 1992 Accord EX about 4,000 miles ago and now all along the lower part of the valve head cover itself, I notice oil that looks kind of fresh (dark black). Any ideas what could be going on? Also, my timing belt, water pump, balancer belt, ac belt and alternator belt were replaced about 10k miles ago and now there seems to be an oil leak around the camshaft area and I heard that oil in this area can affect the timing belts. Is this common or unusual? I've attached some pictures to get your reactions.

 

i have the same issue as u do.. but haven't been able to find out what's the cause of the prob.. if u found out i'd love to know the reason =)

 

Every time I have my car worked on (tune up, timing belt) it seems like they do something to make it leak oil in a new spot. It leaks from the valve cover, leaks from the valve train o-rings into the spark plug holes, leaks from the distributor seal, leaks through the oil pressure sender, leaks from the pan. I just live with it because it's not worth getting "fixed" especially when they can't pinpoint exactly where it's coming from. After the last tune-up is the worst, though, where it's coming from the distributor seal. Maybe because I'm harder on it these days and rev it more, but it seems to come out of there pretty good.

Not sure what my point was - I guess that oil leaks are normal on this gen, from the above mentioned areas. I did the pan gasket myself, and put in a new sender which fixed those issues. It would be nice if the pan had an upward lip, instead of a downward lip to hold the gasket from squeezing out when you install it.

 

I had the same problem w/ my 92 EX station wagon when I bought it 6 years ago. I fixed it by replacing the rubber valve cover gasket and the rubber grommet spark plug gaskets. The parts cost less than $30. Even the new gaskets will leak if you do not get them perfectly fitted. I had to do it twice. Warning: Over tightening the nuts and bolts will damage the gasket and same problem will persist.

 

I decided to basically take no action and see what would happen if I cleaned the area around the camshaft seal and also the valve cover. It's been two months and no fresh oil. Not sure what to think now.

 

Nothing in those pics looked that fresh to me when I first viewed them. It was probably either from a leaking gasket that was replaced or a mess that was made when removing the valve cover or something along those lines.

I was convinced that my distributor o-ring was leaking just recently, the oil looked wet and more so than usual. I figured I'd just wait since I was installing a new dist. in the near future. After wiping off the area though, no further oil has shown up. I think it's just old oil residue from when the distributor was replaced years ago, maybe a recent car wash (w/ underbody spray) added to the wet look.

 

Rubber tends to harden over time and age. Especially when it's exposed to oil and heat constantly so it's expected over time for seals to fail. I suggest you replace the valve cover gasket along with the spark plug grommets and the bolt grommets. The distributor oil seal can be fixed for around $5 from the dealer and in parts and about 10 mins of your time.

To the original OP, you should wipe off the current oil stain and look for it to appear. If it does, then you may need to redo the valve cover gasket. One important step some people skip is to use Black RTV sealant (Permatex brand works well) or Hondabond over the camshaft bearing caps. You want to make sure the corners are going to be covered by the liquid seal. Cleaning the gasket surface before installing a new one is a must as well.