Honda 3.5 Cam Plugs

Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
9,520
Location
Scruffy City
Working on an Acura RL. This is a C35A To my knowledge the only thing it was used in for the US market was the Acura RL 3.5. (AKA ROW Honda Legend) I believe it is similar to the earlier 2.7 and 3.2.

It is a SOHC engine, the NSX used a DOHC version.

At any rate:

The cam plugs are seeping - I think. It is difficult to tell how much was valve cover and how much cam plug.

You are supposed to remove the rocker shaft supports to replace them as far as i can tell, this requires removing the timing belt and sprockets - this is not going to happen... One guy on You tube loosened them and pried up the supports to change the plugs. 2 problems with that is that there are o rings under the supports and silicone.... this sounds like asking for trouble to me.

Many folks on SOHC Honda 4 are simply prying ou the plug and reinstalling a new one. The plug looks similar...

So my question is: Has anyone sucefully proved one of these out and just put the new one in? How did you do it? Access is quite a bit worse than a 4.

CamPlug1.jpeg


CamPlug2.jpeg


CamPlug3.jpeg
 
After a half hearted try at prying this out and finding that it did not easily come out I abandoned it.

Glad i did ad they are barely seeping, it'll take months for them to leak enough to hit the ground. I can live with that.
 
Not sure about that engine but I have changed them on a J series in a Honda Pilot. The plugs on those are aluminum and have bolts in them. They came out very hard and went back pretty tough too.
 
That plug appears to be the same one that's on the rear head of the Legend (the front is occupied by the distributor). You dodged a bullet by leaving it/them in place. Tip: Make darn sure they need to be replaced. It will save you a lot of unnecessary labor and aggravation.

My circular plug R&R story....

The C27A is transverse mounted. Even so, access to the plug, on a scale of 1-10 is about a 9. Pry tools didn't work; there's nothing to get a purchase on. Can't push it out from the inside because the cam is in the way.

I had to drill a hole through the plug and the plug's metal backing in order to get something to pry against. Drilling the hole, I had to sneak the drill bit through a slot in rear torque arm bracket. Drilling the hole, on a scale of 1-10 about an 8. Simply because I had to drill at and angle with the bit passed through a slot in the rear torque arm bracket, no way to center punch the rubber plug (kinda chewed the bracket slot a bit - hind sight, wrap the bit with tape next time; never going to happen again). After I had the hole drilled, I used a long, bladed screw driver and a socket as a fulcrum to pry the plug out.

The plug had evidence of silicone so this wasn't it's first rodeo.

Installation of the new plug, on a scale of 1-10 about a 8. There was no way to hammer the new one back into place. I attempted to push it into place but the lip on the plug was fairly stiff - no way, Jose.

I ended up trimming off the lip, cleaned off the area with lacquer thinner, coating the plug with silicone sealer and started the plug in the hole. I used a 24" curved pry bar to push it the rest of the way. I let it sit overnight before buttoning it back up.

No leak since 2016.
 
Back
Top