oil found during spark plug change

[TexasTitan]

I saw this during a routine spark plug change, normal? Also the PCV side had oil in it.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I saw this during a routine spark plug change, normal? Also the PCV side had oil in it.

Valve cover gasket may be seeping.

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[scooter123]

Need more information, how many miles, and cylinder identification would be helpful. BTW, currently you have named each of Nikon's professional film cameras except for the F6.

 

[TexasTitan]

Need more information, how many miles, and cylinder identification would be helpful. BTW, currently you have named each of Nikon's professional film cameras except for the F6.

41k miles and each cylinder is identified such as F1 is cylinder 1 etc. Lol I'm not familiar with cameras at all

 

[scooter123]

With that many miles I don't think what you are seeing is of any concern. Even well sealed running engines will produce some level of oil misting under the hood, Could be due to a tiny seep from a spot in the valve cover or perhaps a transmission seal but in the turbulant air bouncing around an engine compartment the tiniest little droplet can get spread far and wide as mist. IMO what you are seeing is the product of that microscopic mist accumulating for 41K miles.

 

[TexasTitan]

Thank you for your replies. There seems to be 2 schools of thought on this matter. 1. It's normal for this engine 2. It's the head gasket. So, I ordered a new gasket off rockauto for $11 and will replace this weekend. I will monitor it afterwards every few thousand miles and report back.

 

[Shikari]

Don't forget to deck that head. Otherwise you'll be back at it in 20k miles.

 

[TexasTitan]

Don't forget to deck that head. Otherwise you'll be back at it in 20k miles.

I'm sorry, deck? Forgive my ignorance, i seriously don't know what it means ahhahaha

 

[TexasTitan]

you mean torque specs and sequence?

 

[The_Ryan]

Mine looks like this, with more oil at cylinder 1, and less at cylinder 2, and none by cylinders 3&4. Is there more oil on the plugs closest to the oil filler cap? It's not really sealed between the valve cover and where the spark plugs/inition coils tube, as you can see in the snippet below. So it's possible some spillage from an oil change made it's way down there. That's what I'm sure is happening to me, If you had a head gasket problem, you'd notice some driveability issues.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

No compression check or leakdown check? Or even to see if exhaust is getting into the coolant with the Dye test. Seems to me replacing the head gasket is jumping the gun BIG TIME.

 

[Shikari]

I'm sorry, deck? Forgive my ignorance, i seriously don't know what it means ahhahaha

No worries, man. You take the head to a machine shop and they clean/shave the head to get a proper seating on the headgasket. Typically around $50-$100.

I haven't replaced mine on my fiesta, but I can say on Subaru's you're cutting 50-60k off your headgasket life by only doing a hand clean.

 

[TexasTitan]

Mine looks like this, with more oil at cylinder 1, and less at cylinder 2, and none by cylinders 3&4. Is there more oil on the plugs closest to the oil filler cap? It's not really sealed between the valve cover and where the spark plugs/inition coils tube, as you can see in the snippet below. So it's possible some spillage from an oil change made it's way down there. That's what I'm sure is happening to me, If you had a head gasket problem, you'd notice some driveability issues.
View attachment 30929

It seems evenly distributed across all cylinders. Maybe the most being at 2 or 3

 

[TexasTitan]

No compression check or leakdown check? Or even to see if exhaust is getting into the coolant with the Dye test. Seems to me replacing the head gasket is jumping the gun BIG TIME.

Not yet, I will see if I can get a shop to do it for me before I do the head gasket then... It'd be nice to not have to do it... lol

 

[TexasTitan]

No worries, man. You take the head to a machine shop and they clean/shave the head to get a proper seating on the headgasket. Typically around $50-$100.

I haven't replaced mine on my fiesta, but I can say on Subaru's you're cutting 50-60k off your headgasket life by only doing a hand clean.

I' will check this out if I ultimately decide to replace the head gasket. Looks like I have more investigative work to do before that

 

[slopoke]

Correct terminology should be valve cover gasket, not a head gasket. Two completely different things. From your pics, I'd call the valve cover gasket is the one that's seeping oil.

 

[The_Ryan]

It seems evenly distributed across all cylinders. Maybe the most being at 2 or 3

Eh, still could be spillage. I wouldn't put too much thought or worries into it. I would clean it up best you can for now and enjoy the car for a bit, check again to see if the oil has returned. This way you'll be able to tell if it's actual seepage or spillage from oil change.

 

[Ford ST]

I hope you mean valve cover gasket do not replace the head gasket don't make problems that don't exist. It's a lot of work and things can go wrong if you get the timing off.

I run into oil in the spark plug tubes all the time on spark plug changes. The fix on any vehicle I've ever done has been the valve cover gasket. And from your pictures what you have is nothing I have seen large pools of oil in the tubes.

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[TexasTitan]

Damn, thank you everyone. I don't know why I'm saying head gasket. Sorry I'm responding at work and saying crazy ish. Yes. Valve cover gasket. NOT HEAD. Thank you for catching that error

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Yeah, and NO reason to 'deck', 'mill', or anything else when doing a cam cover gasket.