Spark Plug Tube Seals - Anybody Replaced These?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

alleycat

alleycat

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Threads
29
Messages
115
Location
Charleston, South Carolina
My 2000 model with 240K miles started running rough / misfiring and throwing various codes. After poking around I discovered that three of the spark plug tube seals were brittle and cracked on the right side valve cover. Plugs were basically swimming in oil. No wonder it was misfiring.

Has anyone replaced these seals? They look riveted in and quite challenging to replace. Surely there must be a way to service these. Anybody out there try to replace them? Any help appreciated.
 
Mine were changed along with valvecover gaskets. Not sure as ACC did it.
 
I replaced mine. There is plenty of room to pull the old ones out of their gap using a small hose pick. The new ones are pliable enough to push back into the slots. Hope this helps.
 
The FSM says to bend the holding tabs up enough to remove the old seals, change out the seals, then bend the tabs back down where they were. I purchased them along with valve cover gaskets because the cover gaskets are leaking but haven't gotten around to changing them yet.
 
badlander said:
The FSM says to bend the holding tabs up enough to remove the old seals, change out the seals, then bend the tabs back down where they were. I purchased them along with valve cover gaskets because the cover gaskets are leaking but haven't gotten around to changing them yet.
Click to expand...

Sounds much easier than what I did with squeezing them out.
 
Has anyone checked or planning on checking value clearance (gap) while covers off?

I've yet to see even one report in mud on this, would be very interesting data to have.
 
Interesting I was just looking At those rubbers the other day when I had my covers off.
2001LC checked my valves the other day (cold)
Intake .0060 in
Exhaust .010 in
Drivers side (cyl 1 3 5 7)
2000LC with 155k
 
Last edited:
@sean2202 WOW first report I've ever seen, thanks.

FSM valve clearance cold:
Intake 0.006 - 0.010 in.
Exhaust 0.010 - 0.014 in.
 
Last edited:
2001lc I was tipped off by camino70 that you were interested in values otherwise I would not have checked. Side note underside of valve cover was loaded with flaky carbon buildup. Not sure how well previous owner was on timely oil changes.
 
Freezing the new plug tube seals for an hour or so prior to replacement helps them slide right on in.

I had success ripping the old ones out with some picks and some vice grips.
 
sean2202 said:
2001lc I was tipped off by camino70 that you were interested in values otherwise I would not have checked. Side note underside of valve cover was loaded with flaky carbon buildup. Not sure how well previous owner was on timely oil changes.
Click to expand...
I appreciate both of your efforts. This question has been asked by many for many years. I'm amazed it was spot on minimums (tight) with 155K and even on all 4 cylinders (1,3,5&7) you checked. Oil build up is common with conventional oil use.
 
Yea I was wondering if those little tabs were meant to be lifted up. I may go the pick and vice grip route first. Good lesson here for folks who get misfires and a several codes pointing to O2 Sensors and VSC. Before you run out and get the auto parts guy to plug into your rig and start selling you parts based on the codes he finds - check the obvious first like spark plugs, ect. I pulled one coil and saw the bubbling crude. I had just done VC gaskets 3 months ago and I wish I had replaced those little $2 bastards when I did the big gaskets.
 
I think easier said than done on these girls. Figured I would replace these while doing the valve cover gaskets. I put the new seals "in the freezer" this morning. First I tried the pick route with the tabs bent up, no go (i'm not sure how a pick would get the outer metal seal out as suggested earlier). Then I tried tapping it out from the inside this just led to it breaking apart. I then used a grinder and cut the outer metal band in two places and popped them out. I tapped the new seal into place with a socket and bent the tabs back. I did not continue with the others as they are not leaking. I did put a small film of oil on the new outer band of the seal before tapping it in.

IMG_20170206_075017_941[1].webp


IMG_20170206_075337_287[1].webp


IMG_20170206_080011_018[1].webp
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom