Hey guys need some help. I recently replaced my valve cover gasket and my spark plug well gaskets since we discovered that there was oil in the spark plug wells when we were going to do a compression check. I still haven't replaced the old spark plugs tho. They looked pretty bad, since some of them were dripping in oil while others had burnt up oil residue. Today, I checked my spark plugs again, cuz I have been having occasional hesitation, which I'm attributing to the bad plugs. When I pulled the #1 plug, the plug was still soaked in oil. So, does this mean that we put the gaskets on wrong, or is the oil in here remnants of the previous leak? Please advise guys. Thanks.

P.S. I also noticed that there seems to be a really small gap between the valve cover and the head. Is this ok?

sounds to be like possible piston rings. check your compression, that will reveal if u have internal probs or not
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96 talon esi-t
san clemente, ca

the small gap between valve cover and head it normal. But yea if the bottom half of the plug(the part that goes inside the combustion chamber) is coverd in oil then do a compression check. It could be because of the past oil leak but then again it could be a bad ring.

Hey Mikey it sounds like the gasket is slightly off center, unless you were positive that there wasn't any oil still in the well when you put the valve cover back on

I just put that RTV all over the gasket. Considering they're only $18, if it shortens the life span, fine. I can always get another and change it in an afternoon. :P

Good luck sir.

Turns out one of his valve cover bolts sheared off right where the thread begins.

dude. i told you to replace all your spark plugs and also wires at the same time we did the v.c. etc. well give me a call i got some extra spark plugs and stock wires we can use..
Michael
99gs
HRC Stage IV 8-Injector Setup
2GNT Member #32

Hehe, thanks to thedawg, we did a temporary fix for the valve cover. We tried using an extractor kit from pepboys, but that thing would not drill a bolt that was tempered to that degree. Dan pretty much drilled up my head and broke what, 2-3 drill bits in the process. :-( We finally got out what's left of the bolt, at the expense of some drilled out threads in the head. :P Now I gotta get one of those thread fixer kits. Things I learned from Dan when replacing your valve cover gasket and such:
1. The head can never be too clean. Remove as much of the residue as possible. Hehe, I was too lazy last time and didn't clean as much and wasn't able to remove the left over sealant that was in there. One cause of the leak.
2. RTV in all the right places. This "guy" on the board told me to put RTV in only certain places. Didn't know there was more places to RTV that shit... ( just playing Mike :P )
3. Oh, and use a torque wrench. Comes in really handy to prevent further stripped bolts. :) Also makes sure u torqued down every bolt in right. One other cause of the leak.

I guess that's it. Mucho thanks to Dan for helping me out and giving me some plugs. I owe u a set and a wire. :thumbsup

P.S. Oh yeah, did a compression check too. 210-190-210-210. Freakin #2 cylinder. Not bad tho for a car that has 106K miles on it. :)

Your valve cover might be warped. Remove it and set a straight edge on the bottom side. I had this same problem. However I replaced all the valve cover gaskets, even teh little ones that the bolts go into.

Oii in the spark plugs has nothing to do with compression. Oil is not going to get in the spark plug hole threads. It'll leak thru the valve cover gaskets.

>Dan pretty much drilled up my head and broke what, 2-3 drill
>bits in the process.

Hey now! You make it sound like I'm a hackjob destructo head killing hole disaster! Lol... At least there were some threads and a round hole left- hell you even got the replacement bolt to 8lbs (out of 9lbs) torqued with no thread repair. Hehe there were A lot of metal shavings tho. ;) Anyways, a nice helicoil job will make it good as new.

Oh and pnoymahal is right, you only need rtv in about 4 spots on the valve cover. It's a pain to remove tons of rtv next time, especially when the gasket is designed to hold it on its own. We coated the whole gasket in case there was any warping or gaps in the re-used gasket.

The factory manual only specifies (ultra grey) RTV on the "transition" points of the valve cover- like where the front right corner goes up and over the cam retainer, over the semicircle packing, and when it comes back down in contact with the head. Basically put a dab wherever there's a gap of any kind.

cool deal. see Mikey i told you to get all the tools/parts ( wires and plugs ) before hand. if we had a torque wrench from the start we would have been better off. and using the sealant on the v.c. gasket the places i told you to put it Mikey are the only places you need it if you use a 'new' gasket.
Michael
99gs
HRC Stage IV 8-Injector Setup
2GNT Member #32

>>Dan pretty much drilled up my head and broke what, 2-3
>drill
>>bits in the process.
>
>Hey now! You make it sound like I'm a hackjob destructo head
>killing hole disaster! Lol... At least there were some
>threads and a round hole left- hell you even got the
>replacement bolt to 8lbs (out of 9lbs) torqued with no thread
>repair. Hehe there were A lot of metal shavings tho. ;)
>Anyways, a nice helicoil job will make it good as new.
>
C'mon Dan, u know that's not what I meant! :P Hehehe, I wonder how long it will last...

Ok, I got it. Just RTV the main points when its new, or freakin splatter RTV everywhere if u're reusing it. Better yet, just get a new gasket. :)

Hehe, Mike, I was assuming that the torque wrench my neighbor had went down that low, that's why I didn't bother looking for stuff. O well, I learned my lesson. :thumbsup