spark plug ?? no its not what you think

Ok so I went to do the plugs and wires on my car today, when I went to remove the number 2 & 3 plugs there was quite a bit of oil inside the hole on the valvecover down to the plugs. The boots on the wires were drenched in oil and so were the tops of the plugs. What could possibly be causing this? I'm already suspecting my valvecover for leaking on the firewall side of the engine, could it be leaking in there as well? The number 1 & 4 plugs and boots were completely dry like they should be. Any help? Thanks in advance.

Hey Chris,

It's the valve cover seal. There is a seal that is part of the entire valve cover gasket that goes around spark plug holes # 2 & #3. I had the same problem a little while back. A new gasket and you will be back in business. They are easy to change and not all that expensive.

Good deal, thats what I kinda figured was going on. I've seen the gaskets before so I understand the part your talking about. On a scale of 1-10 what would you say the job ranks in at? I'm no mechanic, but I'm learning. I've also never replaced an engine gasket before. Just when you think your getting ahead of the game. Oh well.

its like a 2 out of 10 IMO

RIalltrac, i'm betting you have the stock screws on the valve cover? Be careful not to strip those when you first take them off. And i suggest replacing them with hex or allen bolts. Secondly, to make the job a little easier, you can take off your TB. This is not a hard job. No special tools or anything else required...just make sure to snug the bolts back in, and give it one good 1/4 turn. You don't want to overtighten the valve cover and ruin the gasket. And be sure the surfaces are CLEAR AND CLEAN of any oil and debris. Goodluck!

Bryan

I dont think the valve cover is your problem. I had this issue with my old st184.
When you take the valve cover off the will be 'tubes around the spark plugs that thread into the head, these threads are probably where its leaking. I removed the tubes with a pipe wrench and used a thread sealer on the treads.

It is not hard to do at all. I did it with my TB still on, but yes, it would be easier with it off. When you take off the valve cover, you will lift up on it, then lift up the passenger side enough to clear the cam cover and pull toward the passenger side of the car - then it will come out easy. I would say to replace this part and see if it solves your problem. I did it on mine and it worked great without having to do anything with the spark plug tubes. seeing as it only is happening with those to cylinders makes me think it is the exact problem i had. I changed my spark plugs at the same time, so i cleaned the inside of the tubes with good paper towels that wouldn't leave fragments behind and then stuffed paper towels half way down in the holes so that nothing could drop down in there while i was working on it (i.e. a bolt when you are removing it or dirt or whatever)

some more tips since you havn't done this before - clean all the surfaces well before reassembly like bryan says. get a little bit of gasket sealer and use it for the following because you dont need to put it everwhere - the gasket will do a fine job of sealing itself. After it is all clean - put a little bit of gasket sealer in the valve cover grove itself where the gasket will go - but just a SMALL dab in the corners and the tops of where the cams are. I do this because these gaskets are reusable and if/when the next time i take my valve cover off, i want the gasket to stick to the valve cover and come off easy. So that is all you want to use the sealer for - just enough to make it stick - you dont want it gooping up and smearing out. 2nd place you want it is in the 'corner' where the cam cover comes back to the flat surface of the head. You want to put just a small dab in on all four of these places (one for each side of both of the cams). I'm not sure how well to explain the location without a pic - but so you have the raised part where the cam is at and it is a half circle and then you have the flat level plane of the head - where the two meet is a sharp angle and it doesn't hurt to have just a bit of sealer there. a ghetto diagram is below - X marks the spot(pretend the periods are white spaces since this code supresses all blank space)
.............................................
..........__.....................__.......
......../.....\................../.....\.....
___x........x_______x........x__


oh ya - also the screws/bolts dont need to be super tight - let the gasket do its job. You will probably be able to take them off using your hand strength (unless you are real weak )

zblu81":3ipv1tor said:

I dont think the valve cover is your problem. I had this issue with my old st184.
When you take the valve cover off the will be 'tubes around the spark plugs that thread into the head, these threads are probably where its leaking. I removed the tubes with a pipe wrench and used a thread sealer on the treads.

Click to expand...

3s is different in that respect. :wink:

ok, I haven't had mine apart but i assumed it still had the tubes.