I decided to change my spark plugs today, I pulled the plug to the far right and realized that the plug was covered in oil, and my ratchet was covered in oil after pulling it, what the fuck does that mean?!?!?!?!?!? I did not check any other plugs yet, i'm going to do that now.

i would check your spark plug o rings. if it's leaking, then old will get in there. was your car running fine before chaning the plugs? if so, then that little gasket went bad.
later

I just did the keydance, it didn't throw a cel...the car seemed to have been running fine, the only thing i noticed was that it stalled out at idle the other day...other than that its been running like when i bought it... I read other posts about the gaskets, which may be the problem...only #4 has oil, the others are fine....I only have 48k on the car, is this covered under warranty, or is this gasket job, a do it yourselfer...any information is usefull! Thanks

its ur spark plug gaskets...it wont throw a cel. just go to mitsu or chrsler and get a new VC gasket and 4 new spark plug gaskets and youll be set. my friend here at school has the same prob and his idle was a lil funky

Hey, if it's under warranty... def take it 2 Mitsu & get them 2 do it. If not, U can do it yourself EZ so long as U R not afraid of working on your car. The oil in the spark plug wells prob is NOT limited 2 just Cyl#4, that just C'ms 2 B the most common (dunno Y). It's common 2 actually have oil in more than 1 of your wells 2, so check them all.

Common symptom is stuttering, idle probs, etc. Super EZ, there's actually a writeup/how2 w/ pics & all somewhere, 4get the link... here's the basic steps

0) Make sure car is VERY cold (not hot)
1) unbolt your valve cover (like U would rims, alternating sides)
2) Take off the old valve cover gasket & the 4 well o-rings
3) Clean off the old gasket/rubber crap off w/ YOUR FINGER NAIL or the like (U can scratch it w/ metal)
4) get some gaskey sealer (I use the black stuff that takes 24hrs 2 cure, paranoia LOL) & replacement valve cover gasket & 4x o-rings
5) Line the head, bolts, & spark plug wells w/ the sealer
6) Bolt valve cover back on (do not overtighten)

P.S.
It's def a leaking spark plug well o-ring gasket. Just B glad U don't have a Neon, what a pain those R. They actually have "seals" & U have 2 use a puller 2 rip them out of the valve cover (PIA) > I used a thick grilling/heat glove 2 keep from cutting myself w/ puller.

P.P.S.
1st time, prob take U 2hrs (a guess)... after U know how, prob could do it in 30min if U go quick.

Have fun,
- J

WOW, now that I actually took some time and searched, I found alot on this topic, I guess I wasn't the only one...I only did a quick search last night before posting...Thanks for your help guys!

It's definitely the valve cover. Now if there was oil on the other side of the spark plug then it would probably be a bad piston ring. I know the first time I had that happened to me I freaked out and assumed I had a bad ring. If you are still worried or unsure you can do a compression test to make sure!

>Now if there was oil on the other side of the spark plug then it >would probably be a bad piston ring.


hi, i am new at this stuff but what do you mean the other side? the spark side or the wire side? sorry to sound like a newbie but i am trying to determine if i have bad valve seals or bad rings. thanks in advance.

I mean the spark side. That would mean that you have blow bye and oil is in the compression chamber. I learned all of this from experience. I blew 2 rings in my 87 ford ranger! That really sucked!