Help pls. Oil in my spark plug chamber!!

[Nico]

This is re my volvo rather than the mule, but won't matter of course. I serviced my coupe a couple weeks back and changed oil filter and plugs. Since then there's been a bit of a leak.

Now I had a look underneath and could see it dripping from the sump plug so I figure I just hadn't done it tight enough, but has carried on leaking.

Had the bonnet up today to see if it was perhaps a gasket higher up and I found standing oil in the recesses of the top of engine cover and low and behold, one of the spark plu chmabers was full of oil.

The spark plu did nor seem tight, nor did it seem not to come out smoothly once loosended (so I rather doubt I threaded it putting it in).
The leak must have been originating from out of where the plug screws in, but is this possible if the thread was tight????????

Any help much appreciated

 

[Nico]

I should say, the plug did NOT seem loose (not any looser than the others anyway)

another q. The engine was running fine, I've just kept the oil toppped up. Q.Is there any harm in getting oil into the pug connections? Will it interfear and perhaps be only running on 4 cylindars? (dosn't appear to lost of any power though)

 

[Jayfish]

not knowing the engine it is hard to say, but...
all that should be under your plug is air, fuel and a piston. not usually oil in the combustion chamber.
I had this on my HGT and it was getting in from the cam-cover gasket (AKA rocker cover gasket)
mine was due to a warped head, so despite 3 new gaskets it was never going to fit well enough.

And yes mine soon started running on 4, I initially was soaking up the oil and taking out the plug to clean, but after having two separate plugs shear off after repeated remove/refit (guess they aren't designed for it and getting half a plug out is a complete arse! one of which i hadn't noticed snapped and took a whole coil out with it!!!) i switched to wrapping some blue roll, the catering stuff, around a long plug socket and soaking it out.
I ran the car like this for months , topping up the oil all the time, as i didnt have funds to fix it. Eventually the oil loss got worse and worse until I completely shafted the bottom end...

Hope this isnt your issue but i'd check that gasket as first point of call as it is a simple/quick/cheap job

 

[Nico]

Hi Jay

So the fact that some oil might have leaked into the combustion chamber, that isn't bad is it? I did use a pippet to remove most of it. Surely the pistons use oil around them anyway?

Does this also mean that oil could not possibly have forced its way up out of via the plug? and that the leak is elsewhere? (I can't believe its from spilt oil, cos the leak been continuing, and the chamber was almost full despite the connector plu top being bolted down with a decent seal around it!?)

 

[Jayfish]

it is possible but you'd be puffing a load of smoke and the smell from burning oil is unmistakable.
Pippeting (is that a real word) is a good idea as you aren't allowing the oil into combustion.
gravity also plays a part here, if something is full of oil I'd lay money on it having come from above.

 

[Nico]

point taken about the gasket being a likely culprit, just a mystery how it filled up the chamber still

 

[Anonymous]

its screwed nico, best sell it to me

i havent read jays posts properly but i think he explained it, its your rocker cover gasket, nothing to worry about, its common, when you change it be careful not to strip the threads as its an alloy head, this is probably from when you had the c&bs fitted they didnt clean/replace the previous gasket.

i havent recieved any prices yet btw



2xHLX owner,3xHGT, (then the darkside) 1xCoupe20vt now the proud owner of a Black Coupe20vt LE!

 

[nico]

I am mulling over about the figures Paul. Meantime its my T5 that I've got the leak on, not the mule. I'm guna go hava look at the engines to compare cos another mate told about, mentioned rocker cover, but I duno what or where this is. There's nothing far as I can see elevated above the level of the engine cover where the plugs go in, besides the oil filler cap!?

 

[Tim]

the rocker cover is usually the entire top portion of the engine, the part the oil cap is attached too the gasket is where it seals to the Head.

Tim

 

[Karl]

the oil will be in the chamber simply from spilage when filling i had the same prob on the bravo spilt oil over the cover and it all ran into the spark plug chamber..... clean it out as you have done... as for sump plug the washer can only be used once.... get a new washer from Volvo i got one for the s40 for 60p the a copper washer with a seal once tighened it seals but can only be used once.....

That'll stop leak from sump.....

If heaven is a place on earth why is it such a hell of a place to live.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tim. I suspected the rocker cover must just be the top portion of the engine (isn't this section also called the 'head'?) Is the rocker cover gasket then the same as the head gasket?

I did think it was just from overfill that has seeped into the chamber, but it was when I took it for its mot that the guys said (after a pool of oil collected on their workshop floor) that it was coming from higher up (than sump) suggestion being head gasket. I did replace the washer with a new one too, just to make sure.

Looking higher, I traced oil from the side beneath the top cover to the plugs, but since none of the other plug chambers had any oil infiltration (and this leak has been going on weeks now) I figured it must just be coming out of that plug.

Since the suggestion is that if it were just the rocker cover gasket (not allowing for differences there might be between the volvo and bravo models)its not a big job to swop it, is this straightforward to do ie. Unbolt lift off and replace? or is it more of a cambelt off job?

I pretty much resigned to taking it to a garage next week anyway (unless replacing the gasket is really that easy), but if it has to go I just wanted to get a grip on what it was so they don't charge for head job when it was a simple fault to do with a plug / socket perhaps

cheers guys

 

[Tim]

here is a pic of a rocker cover just so you know what to look for this is one from a ford but you'll get the idea

from the top of the engine look for the first "seam" between the top and the mid section should be no deeper that shown above in the pic, inspect this all the way around if it looks "wet" or oily in any place it will need changin a simple job not expensive if you look lower below the spark plugs at the next "seam" and this is "wet" or oily then this is your head gasket thats a £500 job straight away as the head may need skimming


Tim

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for that Tim.
So the cover is merely the top, and the head the next section beneath. So leaving aside the mystery of the flooded sparkplug, if it is the top rocker gasket, i can literally just unbolt and lift off the top to replace it ie.without disturbing any of the internals?

 

[Tim]

simply put yes.... but i would let someone who knows do it, if your putting it in the garage anyway should only cost a few quid to get sorted, get a quote.

Tim