i had so much oil in cylinder 1 that it was pouring out of the plug well and pooling in the valve cover, before running off the driver's side and dripping out of the engine bay. i pulled the valve cover but the spark plug gasket was still there, in place, and not damaged...wouldn't it have been physically damaged or mislocated in order for that to have been the cause of the oil leak? the valve cover gasket itself was still in place and looked good as well. whats the deal? what does a bad spark plug gasket look like?

It would look obviously damanged...cracked, stretched thin, etc. If you plan on reusing the VC and plug well gaskets then be sure to apply the necessary amounts of RTV to seal the gaskets correctly. Don't forget to clean all the surfaces the RTV goes on before bolting it together. Also be sure to let it cure as the directions dictate.

yeah that sucks, i already have a new gasket and plug gasket set...was planning on swapping them in...

so what else could be causing that much oil to collect in the plug well?

Originally posted by cyan
so what else could be causing that much oil to collect in the plug well?

If it's just the one well, then it's just the gasket. Surprising how much a bad gasket can leak huh? :) I had a waterpump gasket that I thought was fine, started the car, and coolant just POURED out of it.


Brian

PS. This is assuming of course, everything was bolted correctly, and the individual gasket didn't shift as you were putting the VC back on.

i didn't change it last time, so that may be the problem. i was just baffled because the "bad" old gasket looks identical to the good new gasket.

Heh, I re-used the neoprene valve cover gasket once, I was told you could do that with those. Thing BLEW OUT of the back of the valve cover. I had it perfectly aligned where it was supposed to be.

Maybe there is some slight warpage in your valve cover.

well, the thing is, the oil is is leaking from the inside edge of the valve cover...the only thing on the inner edge that touches the head is the spark plug wells. i dont think those could have warped. the reason i know it is the inner edge is that oil is pooling up in that basin area in the center of the valve cover. im cranking it up again tomorrow after i put these new plugs in, so we'll see if the new gasket helps. if not, i may have to glue the plug boots to the valve cover just to keep the leak contained in the plug well. hmm...probably a bad idea.

This sounds kind of strange, but when I changed the transmission gasket on my fiance's old Grand Prix it said to used some high temp grease on the sides of the gasket to make it seal (not gasket maker). I'm thinking of trying that on the plug well gaskets next time I need to do that. But then again, her gasket was cork, and ours are neoprene.

Don't glue them to the valve cover, head would be a better option, but don't glue them period.

i had a bad sparkplug gasket too. when i ripped it off it looked fine. replaced it and it was all good.