I have a 2003 HONDA ACCORD 4cyl automatic. I was replacing the valve cover seal and the head cover bolt got stripped at the top which holds down the valve cover. I was wondering what is the proper technique to replace the single head cover bolt with proper torques?What is the proper way to remove it? Is there anything that i should watch out for while replacing this part? Or should I just leave it alone and lightly thread in the bolt becuase it just holds down the head cover and the rest of the bolts will do the work? Thank you!

this is covered in the FSM. 95 accord.
did you google this?
http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/accord/137349-1993-f22-crank-cam-balance-shaft-seal-hell.html

are you sure its only the crank seal,????
gravity lies. as does windage effects.
is this an A/T or M/T car, the latter makes the bolt come off easy
(5th gear + brakes) the slush pump tranny NOT.
so if you read the FSM it states." it shows photo of tire off and pulley bolt view and how the body ends just above that bolt, (see it?)

1. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2. Remove the accessory drive belts.
3. If necessary, secure the crankshaft with a flywheel holding tool.

For some engines, a special pulley holder tool is available to secure the pulley while removing and installing the bolt (refer to the illustration)."
4 Remove the crankshaft pulley bolt. This bolt can be difficult to remove. Spray the bolt with penetrating oil and allow it to soak overnight. Book forgets to see CCW direction on bolt (RHT)
the bolt will take about 200fl/lbs of reverse torque to get off.
5 Carefully remove the pulley from the crankshaft. Do not pry it off.
6:
Remove the key from the crankshaft sprocket. Be sure not to lose it.
7 -If necessary, remove the tool holding the crankshaft.

remove seal with seal puller or screw trick ,etc.
do not damage the seal base collar of the housing. DO NOT.

is this your first engine seal work>?
or done many , just need help with one honda.?
if doing all work on a honda, did you ever consider a real FSM?
why not get one, and read it, and all the steps and warnings.
worst case.
if you work engines, you know as you go , you see
Omg, it not the crank it the cam leaking, or just a bad valve cover.
fate happens, distributor seal leak too.

with all FWD, doing a crank seal can be easy or hard.
no access panels in finder
or on some cars, 7ton pressed on pulley, (Dodge neons/ yuk)

bolt spec:
1994-95 Accord and Prelude-181 ft. lbs. (245 Nm)

if the 90,000 mile timing belt is ignored, you will bend the head valves over, or worse... so...... all this , is a consideration.

will try to help.if it's only the valve cover leaking,i'm guessing they sold you the rubber one that says ne rtv sealant needed. take your back off, try not to break the rubber seal when removing!clean the top of head where gasket goes. clean the valve cover really good!clean the grooves out that the gasket slides into. buy some blue trv glue, apply a thin coat to top of head, let it setup while you apply another thin coat to valve cover, let set 10mins. apply gasket to valve cover making sure to push the gasket into the grooves on valve cover. don't worry about neatness. let the valve cover set on a hard surface with the gasket against the hard flat surface[such as a garage floor,or clean driveway] after10 more minutes install the valve cover,make sure and take your time. place valve cover onto motor,than hand start each bolt to insure thay are going into the prope bolt holes. after you have each bolt hand started, start at center of valve cover snugging the bolts down to motor. do not crank down or apply excessive force when tightening those bolts. you should see some of that blue rtv glue coming out around the valve cover when applying torque to the valve cover bolts. only secure them snug at first. let car set for 15mins. start car and look for leaks around the cover, do not over tighten those bolts but you may need to look for a leak, go to bolt closest to leak and turn it 1/4 at a time until leak stops. but if you do this step by step, you'll not have a leak issue. you may have pinched the gasket when you replaced it. hope this helps and thank you for choosing fixya.com

O-ring seal for spark plug are leaking. Located under valve cover.
To replace them,
1.unplug spark plug wire from spark plug.
2.remove valve on top of engine, by loosing the 5(10mm) bolts and disconnecting air hose.
you might have to use a pry bar to pry valve cover off.
3. flip cover upside down and you'll see that there's one o-ring per spark plug hole. remove them and install new one. You might want to replace valve cover gasket too.

It should be on the valve cover. It should b "L" shaped and inserted into a rubber grommit and connected at the top is a vacuum line.

They go UNDER the valve cover in the slight recesses around the plug holes(might use a dab of RTV sealant to keep them in place, or do so by adhering them to the recesses in the valve cover itself, making sure to let the sealant dry a bit so they do not fall out when you put the valve cover in place), NOT down in the plug holes from the top as some people seem to think.
Hope this helps you.

most likely it is the valve cover gasket. it covers the valve train where there is alot of oil to lube the top of the motor. if the head gasket was leaking it may have more signs of running poorly. also having coolant leaks also. so i will have to say valve cover gasket. now usally you may have a oil burning smell with it depending on the area of the lek but not always.

the valve cover can easily be seen when the hood is open. it is right on the top and where it meets the clyinder head is where the gasket is and the leak can be seen.

if you have more question please ask.

Lease check and make sure that you replace with the right seal, that alone should have taken care of this problem. However if the valve cover gasket is loose or bad it will cause oil to leak around distributor are but NOT into distributor. This seal can be easily replaced by loosing 4 10mm bolts on top of valve cover. Contact if you need more help Good luck and thanks for using FIX YA

try removing the bolts hold on the valve cover and once you do that take a razor blade and a little lube and careful scrape the old one off.

Simple enough, thank you!