Please Help!!!!97 Cobra sparkplug holes filled with oil???

[EPIK]

I recently purchased a 97 cobra with 88,000 miles on it. Today I pulled the sparkplug wires on my driver side to check if my plugs were good and all of the holes were filled with oil. What causes this, and is it a common problem? Is it something major? You guys are my only source of income besides the magazines, because none of my freinds own stangs (their loss), and the local mustang shops dont want to offer much help unless your buying stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chris kelvin]

Well i doubt someone putting a full quart over the oil level would make oil shoot up into the cylinder and in the plug area...this leads me to one thing i know from experiance when i worked at autozone for a short while..

I'm guessing the tard that filled the oil up didn't use a funnel, and it spilled all over the head/plug area/boot etc...then he/she wiped it away. Let me guess, is the oil in the plug holes the two that are close to the refill neck...? It's very easy to get oil in there if you spilled a half a cup-which i seen everyday at autozone...lol.

DEFINETLY get a strong compressed air source, not just a can with air in it-they suck. Go to a shop, or get someones that has a compresser to use a air hose to blow out the holdes WHILE the plugs are still in there. Then removed the plugs and use a cloth/rag to clean the rest...make sure it's a cloth that doesn't shed, so you wont get stuff in the combustion chamber.

 

[EPIK]

Well I did get the oil changed right away when I bought the car, but I watched them do it and dont remember seeing them spill oil. Besides, it was in all of the plug holes on the driver side, not just the ones near the filler neck. Could this be a bad valve cover gasket?

 

[chris kelvin]

I'm sorry, others will shine in on this. But i seriously think someone simply dropped a quart, and it spilled all over your engine..on the drivers side. I'm not saying the person that just changed it did it....that oil in the plug holes could have been there for over 6 months.

I can be wrong on this, but i do believe you'd have ALOT of symptoms if you had a bad valve cover gasket...

Mustang guys, please help..lol.

 

[Mark8Denny]

oil in the spark plug wells

You need new valve cover gaskets. The spark plug wells have a rubber o ring to seperate them from the camshaft area under the valvecover.

 

[billfisher]

possible leaking spark plug to valve cover seals. easy to fix dude. no sweat. or a spill. clean it out good and if it returns, change the seals and valve cover gasket. piece of pie.

 

[Dragstr05]

Probably the the O seals around the plug holes in the valvecover. I replaced a few valvecover gaskets at lincoln for this same problem.

 

[EPIK]

Today I checked the passenger side plug wires and those are soaked also. Hopefully you guys are right about the valve cover gaskets and seals. I just bought this thing not less than a month ago, and I already got problems. The only problem my 96 gt had when I got it was the stupid intake recall,and ford took care of that. So this is a common problem with all dohc engines? What other common problems do these engines have(4.6 dohc)?

 

[billfisher]

it can only be a leak or cracked covers. once neoprene get hot enough it loses flexibility. or if they are hard and someone took them off to look inside they won't seal again. no matter what you don't have a big deal.