Oil on Spark Plugs

[River_Rat]

So I'm at a little over 20k and the idle was a little rougher than I would like, so I finally decided to check my spark plug gaps today. They were all at .025. Accordingly, I gapped them at .028. Also, three of the 4 little coils in the spark plug boots were crooked. No big deal.

Looking at the engine, I was working left to right. When I got to cylinders 3 and 4 (the ones on the drivers' side) I noticed that the plugs were oily. When I say oily, I mean slippery, as in I had to wipe my fingers off. Looking down in the plug well, there was visible gold-colored oil.

When I installed my intake, I noticed a small amount of oil in the near the turbo inlet. I've read plenty about oil in the charge pipes and so on. I know that this is common and not generally a big deal. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered oily plugs.

 

[ChrisJ]

Did you start the engine and shut it down pretty fast before pulling the plugs?

Generally if an engine is burning oil the plugs will be sooted up and black, not oily wet.

That sounds like an engine that was started and shut down pretty fast.

 

[River_Rat]

It was still warm, but not too hot to handle. Had probably been shut down for an hour. They weren't sooty and black or anything. I should have taken some pictures. I've only changed the oil 3 times thus far, but I've not noticed any considerable consumption or anything.

The plugs looked normal; clean and light gray. I've never checked one at 20k before, but they looked damn near perfect. Just that the threads were oily.

 

[ChrisJ]

These are some examples of what I'm used to seeing when it comes to an engine that burns a lot of oil


http://image.superstreetonline.com/..._06_z+reading_spark_plugs+rich_spark_plug.jpg

http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/attachments/412154/

http://image.superstreetonline.com/...0703_07_z+reading_spark_plugs+burning_oil.jpg


however I will admit when I pulled my sparkplugs with maybe 15K on them I didn't notice any kind of film or anything on them.

 

[River_Rat]

Yeah, they were nothing like that at all. I've pulled plugs that were black like that before. These looked good. The insulator was white, the electrode light gray, no carbon build-up or anything. They were just covered in a film of clean oil. Never encountered that before. And it was only the two cylinders.

 

[ChrisJ]

Yeah, they were nothing like that at all. I've pulled plugs that were black like that before. These looked good. The insulator was white, the electrode light gray, no carbon build-up or anything. They were just covered in a film of clean oil. Never encountered that before. And it was only the two cylinders.

Hopefully someone who has an idea can comment.
I guess my only point is "don't panic". Yet.

 

[River_Rat]

On the contrary, I'm cool as a cucumber until someone tells me I should worry.

 

[Preloader]

Only two is a little concerning, but nothing to hit the panic button for just yet.

It may be worth a second look in another couple 1000 miles. If it seems worse, the next step would be a compression check. Or swap plugs 3 and 4 with 1 and 2 and check again in another 1000 to verify whether it is clearly something directly involved with cyl 3 and 4.

I am a big fan of the Keep Calm approach though.

 

[River_Rat]

Thanks for the input. I'll pull them again tomorrow, take some pictures, wipe them down, and reinstall.

 

[River_Rat]

So, there was a little bit more soot than I remembered, particularly on the bottom half of the threads. With the oil appearing above the plugs, it leads me to believe that maybe the two weren't tight enough and it was allowing some vapor to blow past? I don't know.
Anyway, here's what I've got.

 

[Preloader]

Hmmmm. Looks like business as usual to me. If oil made it up passed the threads, it would be blackened by then. My only idea as to how fresh oil made it down in there is that maybe it followed the valve cover seal around from the oil cap.

Would explain why it chose cyl #4.

 

[River_Rat]

Works for me. I've never had a car with less than 100k before, much less a new car. Like I said, I wasn't worried about it so much as curious. Hopefully this thead title isn't too damaging for those headline skimmers.

 

[Luv2xlr8]

I know on my Honda motors I had this problem and it was the gaskets from the valve cover cylinder gaskets. Have you ever taken your valve cover off? Maybe it's not torqued down to specs and it leaked through a bit? Just giving you some ideas what it can also be.

 

[River_Rat]

Nah. I've never had the valve cover off. I'm not going to bother with torquing it down as I have a tendency to break things. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

[ChrisJ]

I'd go with they possibly weren't tight enough. The insulators look like a perfect color suggesting its burning beautifully. Also all 4 insulators look about the same which is good.

 

[severous01]

seems like a valve cover to me. and for the pix posted above that's a very clean burning engine. if it were oil from INSIDE the cylinder then it would look like the plugs in the links. oil must have come from outside combustion chamber. the valve cover gasket is only a few bucks and a few bolts hold it down. i would replace the gasket and be done with it.

 

[Preloader]

Or do nothing and never start not being done with it.

If it's coming from the cover, it ain't hurting nothing. Just keep an eye on it that it doesn't get bad. Honestly, going around once to make sure all the valve cover bolts are at least just passed hand tight will prolly stop it from getting worse.

 

[SonicBoy24]

If the spark plugs weren't tightened down properly, you would have shot at least one out through the hood of the car once the spark was lit, so it wasn't that.

I've seen the consequences of a spark plug not being tightened properly on a snowmobile, it punches a cute little hole through everything and you get a quick little burst of flame then the engine dies.

 

[Preloader]

Must have been a 2 or 1-cyl. A 4 will run on 3 quite well until you push it under load.


My Dodge colt has a worn thread plug hole and that plug works itself loose often. When I start hearing it firing passed the threads, I know it's time to pull out the ratchet again.

 

[sx sonic]

My RM85 would often vibrate the plug loose. Start loosing power and It was time to tighten the plug, and often throw in a fresh plug. No damage occurred. But it can happen, it wasnt uncommon on some Ford's.