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Re: oil on spark plugs Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: oil on spark plugs, Micah, Wed, 20 Mar 2002 00:39:38 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
If you have oil on the plug tip, then it may have come from a worn valve seal. I assume you pull the plugs with a cold engine. Oil would seep down the valve stem through the valve seal, and flow across the head to the spark plug. It would gather on the tip of the plug as the lowest point.
If you have worn valve seals, you'll see oil burning in the exhaust plume when you first start the car, but it goes away. Burning oil tends to be bluish, not the white of normal water vapor. If all you get is some minor smoke on startup, I'd live with it. Worn valve seals will leak a little when you first start, or if you stay off the gas on a long downhill, but untill the oil burning is a big issue, it's not worth fixing.
Another possibility - I assume it's a 16 valve engine. It's common for the valve cover gasket (not head gasket!) to leak. Oil drips down the outside onto the exhaust manifold, but it also drips into the 'well' formed by the two cams. The spark plugs sit in this well. Oil drips down and pools around the spark plugs, and when you pull the plug out, the oil gets on the tip. If the spark plug well is oily, clean it out (with the plugs IN the holes - you don't want to get dirt into the engine!!) run the car, and try again. A new valve cover gasket is about $20 and an hour of work.
Good luck!
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