Problem - Oil Dripping off Spark Plug

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 27th, 2007, 6:08 am

My car has been spluttering, sounding like it's misfiring BADLY. So I took out my spark plugs and when I got to the last plug on the rear bank, I pulled it out and it was seriously dripping in oil (on the inside). There was also small traces of oil on the rest of them, but I didn't think much of it. It's been eating alot of oil recently, and the day after I topped it up with new oil it's started all this.

Anyone any ideas? Piston ring? Valve seals? It's looking really expensive...

1992blazeredgs · Post by **1992blazeredgs** » September 27th, 2007, 5:07 pm

Are you sure the oil is actually coming from inside the motor, and not from a badly leaking valve cover gasket? If the oil is truely coming from the inside of the motor its most likely going to be your piston rings. Oil blowing by them. This would be causing your misfire and oil to get on the spark plug. I would suggest doing a compression test. That way you can determine what exactly you are loosing compression.

Nate

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 27th, 2007, 7:06 pm

Well I have a valve cover gasket spare, so i'm putting that on along with new intake manifold gaskets as they are knackered too. So i'm hoping your right! But yea if that doesn't work ill go for the compression test, thanks Nate!

Juans_93_MX3 · Post by **Juans_93_MX3** » September 27th, 2007, 9:24 pm

Let us know the outcome

Norwegian81 · Post by **Norwegian81** » September 27th, 2007, 9:29 pm

couldent it be the valve stem seals? or am i way off?

1992blazeredgs · September 27th, 2007, 10:12 pm

The valve seals in our cars are prone to leak oil. But i dont think they could ever be that bad. I drove my k8 for 3 years with leaky valve seals and it didnt ever leave oil on the plugs, just turned them alittle on the dark side because of the burning of the oil.

Nate

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 28th, 2007, 2:01 pm

You can see ye olde gaskets have had their day!

Oil everywhere!

Crunchy gasket - came out in pieces, more coke than kate moss.

New gasket with added red liquid gasket - 'cause I don't wanna be going back there in a hurry!

My 323f brother said their V6 boys polished off their throttle body inlets, so I've started smoothing mine off to get rid of the harsh ridge. I tried hourglassing the butterfly but dear god its bullet proof to my dremel!

So I'm now awaiting my IM gaskets before I can put her back together. Concerned about a few things like the dirt in the intakes. There is a noticeable amount of coked oil sitting on top of a few valves, and also I can see a bit on top of one of the pistons

Any advice? (please don't tell me take apart more of my engine! pour some cleaner in? )

94mx3precidia · Post by **94mx3precidia** » September 28th, 2007, 7:16 pm

well i wouldnt be in a hurry to pour cleaner into your engine. IF you engine has reasonably high klm's on it there are bound to be scratches in your cylinders and cleaning them can cause the carbon in the scratches to be removed and you'll start burning oil, bad.

On another note..... How did you paint your valve covers? Ill be replacing my gaskets soon as they are leaking as well and i think i might get them painted while there off. Did you get someone to do it for you? Or did you do it yourself? How?

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 30th, 2007, 2:09 pm

Well today my intake manifold gaskets arrived from the very reliable fordprobestore.co.uk. Just a pity about the rain! So because our garage is totally full of crap I had to think of another plan- the gazebo!

haha the ridiculous looks I was getting for my wee driveway showstand!

So I got it all back together (inspired my dad to purchase a torque wrench for £30 which is damn sweet). And it looked like this:

Bit pissed you can hardly see any of my lovely rear cam cover! Then did the fuel line short on the diagnostics box, turned key for 10 secs, disconnect the jumper wire and bingo... started first time

What a relief!

So it's running sweet for now! All back together, new sparks, new IM and cam cover gaskets, and a polished and grinded down throttle body.

Anyway about the painting here's how I did it:

0. Purchase new gaskets and Very High Temperature spraypaint.
1. Remove Valve cover, disconnect hoses then bolts etc.
2. Use some kind of oil separator to clean it, I also used a J cloth and toothbrush to remove all the grime.
3. Sand down metal to give the paint a good key to stick to (I used 60 then 180 grit- also noticed fabric backed in stead of paper worked better)
4. Clean with white spirit or maybe petrol or something
5. Mask off spark plug holes, vacuum lines etc
6. Spraypaint several layers 10 minutes apart - don't go to heavy but it's quite hard to get this paint to run so dont worry much about that.
7. Leave to dry for about an hour (for my paint)
8. Put it back on
9. Be happy

10. Put inlet manifold back on
11. Realise it was a waste of time

12. Be happy that you know it looks good under there...

94mx3precidia · Post by **94mx3precidia** » September 30th, 2007, 4:34 pm

nice job on the car, what exactly did you have to take off to get both vavle covers off? the front one looks easy but to me the rear looks like there is alot to take off.

What color do you think goes best with the green precidia?

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 30th, 2007, 4:43 pm

well for the rear one you gotta:
disconnect your air intake
disconnect vacuum hoses and coolant hoses
disconnect various sensors off the throttle body etc
pull the fuel lines out (depressurize first by pulling the relay connection whilst running under the rear seat)
then take off intake manifold
then you're at the rear cover...

So I'd probably just do the front one! Unless you want to do the gaskets

lol as for colours... red brake callipers sit well on my brother green 323f, so I'd say red or black, any colour beats oily aluminium IMO

94mx3precidia · Post by **94mx3precidia** » September 30th, 2007, 5:28 pm

did you use your old bolts off the valve cover? I dont know if its the same as cylinder head bolts where you have to replace them and retorque them.

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 30th, 2007, 6:26 pm

yep I used my old bolts, the torque on the valve covers is very low, so I'd be surprised if you ran into trouble there. I think it said about 8nm in the manual maybe? That's from memory though, if you need to know I'll look it up

94mx3precidia · Post by **94mx3precidia** » September 30th, 2007, 7:16 pm

realley just 8nm? I guess it makes sense seeing as how there isnt that much oil up there and all you need is just some pressure to keep the gasket sealed.

What type of gasket did you use for your vavle cover? or did u just use high temp silicone?

marcdh · Post by **marcdh** » September 30th, 2007, 7:27 pm

Being from Northern Ireland I used a UK store's gaskets:
http://www.fordprobestore.co.uk/store/p ... cts_id=489

The gaskets were a great fit, and I also used some extra Hermetite Instant Gasket Red, just to be sure with the awkward rear one.

Yep 5.0-8.8 Nm according to my manual. Think I gave it a wee bit extra to be honest as my torque wrench doesn't go that low.