Piston rings or valve gasket??

[ritalin]

Heya,

I did a bit of service on my '91 Presso today, which included replacing the spark plugs. When i took them out, they were coated in oil - which caused me some alarm. I don't don't know *alot* about engines, but I know that's probably a really bad thing!

The oil was on the top end of the plugs (the bit the leads connect to - not the sparking end), and on the ignition wire plastic connectors. All three of the front spark plugs had oil, and so did the back three plugs too.
I took a look at the sparking end of the old plugs, and they were a light tan/orangey colour, no deposits - the internet tells me that this is normal and healthy.

So! What's my problem here? Is it worn piston rings (*cry* ) or is it the valve cover gasket?? Are there two gaskets? one for the front, and one for the rear?


I did do a search for this very common problem - but I couldn't tell if other people had had the problem with both the front and the rear spark plugs.
Is replacing the gasket a huge and troublesome procedure I have to pay a mechanic for, or can I do it myself?
I was going to buy a new valve cover and send it away to be polished at some stage... might be an excuse to get it done sooner

As always, your advice is greatly appreciated!!!


Oh! Also, I wanted to change the fuel filter and ignition leads, but the motor parts places over here want to charge me $130 and $280 respectively. $130 for a fuel filter?! Seriously??!
Can anyone recommend a good place for me to buy these online and have them shipped here? I think it'd probably be cheaper.
Cheers!

[neutral]

Sounds like leaking valve cover gaskets, since the oil was found outside of the engine, pooled in the sparkplug wells, and your sparkplug tips look normal. Worn piston rings would cause burning oil in the combustion chambers and plug tip's condition would not match the description you gave. Leaking VC gasket(s) are allowing oil to seep out of the valvetrain area so gasket replacement is recommended. Yup, there is one VC gasket for each valve cover. The front one is easily accessible. I have a 4 cyl MX-3 but helped a friend last summer replace his V6 rear gasket and IMO the rear one is a PITA to replace.

[ritalin]

Well that puts my mind at ease somewhat.

A PITA rear valve cover gasket still sounds a lot better than blown piston rings!

[mx3autozam]

Well that puts my mind at ease somewhat.

A PITA rear valve cover gasket still sounds a lot better than blown piston rings!

definitly easier than piston rings. The rear is kind of a pita, but if you have taken the intake manifold off before you will say its a breeze. i've takin mine off doezens of times its a 20minute job.lol

[Boris]

why don't you try doing a wet compression test? That'll shed some light on whether it's your rings or not. No harm in doing a compression test just to check

[neutral]

Dunno what shipping to NZ from US would be but this is a nice price for a pair of gaskets and seller ships worldwide...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/92-95-MA ... dZViewItem

[kiwi_MX3]

K8 and KLZE parts are common over the counter stuff in NZ

STA parts in auckland have them if your stuck else repco or
appco will have the gaskets.

Note some gasket kits only supply the outer gasket not the spark
plug rubbers so check the kit when you get it.

[ritalin]

Hmm, where do you go to get your parts?
As I mentioned before, I've tried Repco for the ignition leads and fuel filter, and they said they'd have to order them, and charge me $280 and $130 respectively. So the parts don't sound very common and inexpensive...