I searched thur page after page in this maintance forum but really didn't find anyone that has mentioned this as a problem? I took my IDI cover off my car last nite to take a look at how the spark plugs looked and once I got the plug boots off I noticed a decent amount of oil in each cylinder plug hole covering the spark plugs. I changed my spark plugs last april at 91,000 miles and didn't notice this then now I have 97,000 miles on the car. I assume they were still the orginal plugs when I changed them back in april. I didn't have a torgue wrench when I changed them, but I put them in there tight enough that they should have been okay. They were still snug last night, but I really don't know how or why the oil is in there? In the back of my haynes manual it has pictures of different problems with spark plugs and it says for oil deposits that "it's caused by poor oil control, oil is leaking past worn valve guides or piston rings in the combustion chamber, and cause's hard starting, misfiring and hesitation." That kinda scares me that it's talking about piston rings and all. I've never had a motor apart and don't much as far as rebuilding one and wouldn't be sure how to go about it if this is the problem. My car doesn't experience any of the above mentioned mechanical conditions though. The car runs fine and i've never had any problems with it. I take good care of it change the oil every 3,000K and have all the maintence up to date on the car.
Oh ya and the plugs I put in when I changed them at 91,000K were bosch plantium 4 plugs. I went and bought some new cheap autolite plugs for less than $10 bux last nite and changed them again and i'm going to check them in a few days to see if the plugs are covered in oil again.
What do you guys think? Thanks for any help. Matt
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Take off you intake tubing and see ifyou have any oil arround the inside of it. It is unlikely that you have blown a pistons ring or a valve guide without being able to tell by the way the engine performs. If you have oil deposited all allong the inside of the intake tubing and on teh throttle body plate, change you PCV valve.
Cardomain|
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okay. I was going to take apart my intake and throttle body last nite to mess around with it and look around too. I'll take it apart and give it a look and see what i can find. How much is a PCV valve going to run me? Do you know how much off hand, if not don't worry about it. I can find out at the parts store.
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Hopefully i'm picking up on what your saying, which is the opposite of what Josh is talking about. Your oil problem seems to be external correct?? on top the plugs? you notice the oil residue before removing the plugs. There are a couple of things that could cause this, a leaking oil pressure sensor, where it threads into the intake cam housing or leaking cam housing gaskets.
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Yeah that is correct the oil is external. You could see the oil on top of the plugs without remvoing the plugs. The hole the plugs goes into WASN'T filled up the entire way with oil. I would say it was even less than halfway filled. I have an oil pressure gauge hooked up but the sender unit IS NOT leaking I put teflon tape around the fittings and have checked to see if it was leaking or not. I haven't rechecked it yet since I put the new plugs in, but I will be changing my oil this weekend and I will check it then. If they are covered with oil again I will take picture of what it looks like. And none of the gaskets around the area that would seem to cause the oil to there seem to be leaking at all. It seems wierd to me, because the car is still running fine and is not missing or anything like that.
I'll post back once I get around to checking the status of it. Either friday or saturday i'll take a look at it.
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It wont miss or anything like that because your not getting oil into the combustion chamber. I've seen problems with the sensors especially when putting in an aftermarket setup. Especially when using Teflon tape, dont use it, it sucks ass, go get some Permatex Liquid Teflon high temp pipe sealant, they sell it at Autozone, Advance, etc. it comes in a small squeeze tube. You apply it to the threads and thread the sensor in, it wont leak and works wonders on hi-temp hi-pressure applications. But i'd look at the sensor for the leak, if its coming from the cam housings you should see evidence of oil along the seam where the cam tower attaches to the cylinder head.
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i had this, the culprit was the valve (rocker arm) cover gasket. but then again i have a 2.2
