93 accord leaky valve cover gasket question

Got a 93 accord with 2.2liter 4cyl engine (160k miles)

The valve cover gasket is leaking on the front side.
it's been doing it a while slowly, but has now gotten
bad enough to warrant replacing.

There also appears to be just a little bit of oil
on the spark plug wires where the wire meets the sparkplug.

Question 1:
do I need to use any gasket sealer, etc. on it?
i've heard mixed opinions. If so, then why or why not?

quetion 2:
The spark plug gasket/o-ring you replace.
Is that inside the valve cover or the one around the wire?
how hard is this to replace if inside the valve cover?

thanks for your help.

cc:'ing your reply via email would be helpful also.

-mike

 

In service manuals, Honda recommends just a touch of sealer at the sharp
corners of the gasket. Personally I've never used it and never had a leak
- your call based on what you see on the old gasket.

AFAIK that engine has only the one seal for each spark plug tube, unlike
the civic which has an extra tube (and O-ring) which is part of each rocker
assembly. Your seals are just pushed into recesses in the valve cover and
easy to replace.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

I use "Honda Bond" liquid gasket (from the dealer) on our 95 Civic and 92
Accord. When I pulled the original gasket off the Civic, the sealer was
applied from the factory in the spots noted in the following diagram taken
from the Civic manual...I'll keep it posted for a few days...Here's the
link:

http://home.earthlink.net/~mike-r/images/P1010058.JPG