Oily spark plug

Selfish · 01-07-2008, 01:28 PM

Hi, people. Earlier today I was replacing a power steering hose and I noticed the bottom of the engine was very dirty, like covered with an oil and dirt mix. I know a lot of that can be picked up from the road itself, but I'm concerned mainly because I haven't driven the car in at least a week, and this "substance" was not dry but wet. It could have been some power steering fluid that spilled while I replaced the hose, but not to that extent. This slimy stuff was like, all over the bottom of the car, and it was darker in color than pwr steering fluid, which is red. While I was at it, I checked the spark plugs, and to my surprise one of them was almost submerged in oil. I know that's not good news, but that was the only spark plug in that condition. The other ones were just fine. Can it be that this particular plug wasn't properly tightened, or should I suspect the worse? And what could be causing the slimy stuff in the bottom of the car? Is any of this normal? Thanks for looking!

Jeron · Jeron's Garage

The submerged plug is the valve cover gasket, specifically the plug gaskets of the valve cover .

I would suspect leaking power steering hoses for the oily oil pan and clean the pan and check it in a week or so. The dark fluid is not red due to dirt and grime. It could be oil pan gasket though.

whosyadadie01 · 01-08-2008, 12:35 PM

yea its the valve cover gasket ... if you read into the valve cover gaskets then your no that it doesnt matter if it is covered in oil because it doesnt affect performance at all

Jeron · Jeron's Garage

Oil in the the plug well often causes misfires.

whosyadadie01 · 01-08-2008, 01:16 PM

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Spark-Plugs/E36-Spark-Plugs.htm

article says that while you may first think that it is a bad thing, it actually doesn not harm performance

Jeron · Jeron's Garage

Hmm, guess I should read some of those articles. I've heard otherwise but never had it happen to me.

If there is enough oil then the coil will ground the head through the oil rather than the plug tip. I don't know how much oil that would take though.

whosyadadie01 · 01-09-2008, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeron

Hmm, guess I should read some of those articles. I've heard otherwise but never had it happen to me.

If there is enough oil then the coil will ground the head through the oil rather than the plug tip. I don't know how much oil that would take though.

yea i figured that would happen also but i think it would take a good amount of oil

Selfish · 01-12-2008, 08:31 PM

so ....are you saying that I shouldn't worry about it? Just leave it like that?

whosyadadie01 · 01-12-2008, 09:11 PM

i mean its not a bad thing but its not a good thing.

i would order a new valve ocver gasket, its a fairly easy thing to replace and that will end all the oil leaking in there

jamin325i · 01-13-2008, 07:46 AM

age determines some of problems we likely encounter on our vehicles.

begin by putting on new valve cover and plug gasket set to stop having the wet exterior of plug. however that isn't your leak source under engine.

you have done some power steer hose work so you likely know of possibility of suspect clamps at the bottom of p. s. reservoir.

i thought i had this problem a week ago as i had a new oil leak on the ground. so i jacked car and using spray cleaners and garden cleaned bottom of my engine expecting to find p.s. clamp leaks.

clean up your engine to find leak source.

in my case, after starting engine and rolling under car i watched engine oil stream down the drivers side adjacent to where the oil filter housing main gasket is located. needless to say, this became a much bigger job than i had hoped. this gasket was extremely hard after 14 years. i had noticed a bit of oil usage in past month as an early clue.

you really are just guessing about leak sources until you get dirty under the engine with a good flashlight.