oil in spark plugs!

[cmsrsmth]

I KNOW I read this somewhere... but it's OK to have oil in with the spark plugs, right? I just changed them, and 4 were soaked with oil. Since I thought I read this before, I didn't pay any attention really to it, and went ahead w/the instal. However, I'm taking it in for the Inspec. II this week, and thought that maybe there'd be a seal that needs to be replaced? Also it was blowing smoke a bit afterward. I haven't "blown" the engine out or anything yet, but I assume it will go away when I do. Any suggestions/comments?

[pro50gt]

Oil on the spark plugs tip is a sign of worn piston rings.

[cmsrsmth]

Is replacing those rings a fairly easy task? $$? Is it something that I should be worried about?

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Replacing piston rings means typically a full engine rebuild. IT is almost unheard of to simply replace the piston rings without also rebuilding the engine.

[Ad Hoc]

When you say "oil in with the spark plugs" do you mean the plugs or the plug holes?

If you read Wayne from Pelican Parts' article on changing plugs, http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Spark-Plugs/E36-Spark-Plugs.htm he states that "the way that the ignition system is designed on these BMWs, there is the opportunity for the spark plug HOLES to completely fill up with oil, if you have a leaky seal on your valve cover. When you pull out the spark plug connector / coil combo, you may find that it is completely submerged in engine oil"

He also says that "while common sense says that this is not a good thing, the reality is that this is actually quite common, and doesn't seem to affect the performance of the car one bit."

He suggests that if you do find oil in your spark plug holes, you go one step further and replace the valve cover gasket - a relatively simple procedure once the coils are all off.

[supertack]

Nice catch Ad Hoc, I was gonna go & find that tech article & paste it as well. That is one of the reasons I'm not lookin forward to replacing my plugs, .........I'm just gonna cringe if I find oil in there.

[cmsrsmth]

Great help. This is exactly what it was... the HOLE was filled with oil, and I KNEW I had read something not so bad in this forum earlier. Saved me from a mild heart-attack guys!

Maybe I'll just have them replace the gasket when it's in the shop next week.

[6spd]

This was a common problem in the early Hemi days of the fifties.
If you change the tube seals and it happens again. Chances are Pro50gt is right and the rings have blowby, then the crankcase pressure builds high enough to blow the seals again.

[Wayne 962]

Ad Hoc - you beat me to the punch!

-Wayne

[cmsrsmth]

I'll be taking it in to my mechanic this week (he was a mechanic for Ferrari's F1 team in Europe, so he PROBABLY will know what's going on) and I'll have him replace the valve cover gasket. Should I ask him to drain the oil from the holes or anything? I neglected to do that when I changed the plugs.

[Ad Hoc]

Again, take a look at Wayne Dempsey's article I posted the link to above. Wayne discusses what could happen to your new plugs if you don't clean out the oil.

Thanks again to Wayne for providing the expertise that I'm merely quoting.

[cmsrsmth]

Yes, that's what I read, and that's why I'm wondering if I should actually go BACK in and clean them out... since I'll be replacing (having it replaced) the valve cover gasket anyway, would he just do that at that time?

[Ad Hoc]

According to Wayne's article, he suggests you "take some paper towels and attempt to soak up as much of the oil as possible, BEFORE removing the spark plug." (emphasis added). He states that "if you don't get rid of the excess oil, then it will leak into the cylinder head through the spark plug hole when you remove the spark plug. This will cause your car to run sooty when you first start it up, and it may even foul your brand new spark plugs that you just installed."

That implies to me that if you already replaced the plugs and didn't remove the excess oil, you may already have oil that leaked into your cylinder head. Wayne, correct me if I'm wrong but I would imagine removing whatever oil is still there would be a good idea, however it obviously wouldn't affect what oil may have leaked in when you first changed the plugs. Nevertheless, I would ask your Ferrari mechanic to clean out whatever oil is still there - couldn't hurt.

[6spd]

I'd recomend soaking up the oil, then blow it out with air and use towel around it. Older cars would have road grim around that area also, don't wanna drop that inside.
Extra oil in the topend could also cover the cat.convt. fins making it not work as well.