Just Changed Spark plugs and found oil on 2 plugs on my 4.6

[Hit Redline]

OK, I am worried that I may have something serious here. I just bought this 02 4.6 with 67,000 miles. I decided to go ahead and change the plugs, NGK iridium. Seemed to be a plug of choice around here and had great results with my 97 mustang. The noises these plugs made coming out was a little scary. Squeaking and what not.

When I removed the driver side rear plug it had oil all over it. Didn't seem to be on the porcelain or tip of the plug, but the thread area/ metal part. After I put the new plug in I noticed the coil pack was different than the others as well. Its hard to see in the pic, but it is date stamp 12/07/08.



I know this can't be good, but how bad is this? Repair wise?

The passenger side rear plug had some oil on it as well, not as much but still oil on the plug. Here is a pic with the plug out on the passenger side.



Here is a link to another thread I started with some vids of the engine running and the exhaust. Seems maybe this oil on the plugs issue may be the culprit.

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...questions.html

Any idea what is causing this leak? The X seems to have plenty of power.

[dkl]

How does it run after the plug change?

[Hit Redline]

Originally Posted by dkl

How does it run after the plug change?

Seems more responsive and idle is better. But concerned about this oil thing.

[alpac]

I bet on the valve cover gasket

[lo_jack]

Oil coming in from the top has probably gotten through the valve cover gasket, specifically the little part that seals out the coil pack to plug hole. You will want to clean everything out, change the gasket and run some good gas in it to clean it out. You are probably running at least a bit rich right now to compensate for the oil. How many miles are on your forward 02 sensors?

[Hit Redline]

Originally Posted by lo_jack

Oil coming in from the top has probably gotten through the valve cover gasket, specifically the little part that seals out the coil pack to plug hole. You will want to clean everything out, change the gasket and run some good gas in it to clean it out. You are probably running at least a bit rich right now to compensate for the oil. How many miles are on your forward 02 sensors?

OK, so its just a matter of replacing the valve cover gasket. That isn't that big of a deal.

Is this a common issue with the V8 X5?

I am going to guess the 02 sensors have never been changed, 67,***.

What about the replaced coil pack? Think the oil leaking had something to do with it needing to be replaced?

I didn't notice some better mileage with these new plugs.

[Weasel]

Correct in that the valve cover gaskets caused this, and is somewhat common on all older engines... I6's and V8's. What y'all are wrong in is that the oil in question doesn't make it into the cylinders at all, untill you pulled the plugs that is... But it is nothing to worry about. The worst thing to happen with the oil in the plug holes is a missfire caused by the oil allowing the coil to spark off to the side.

Don't need to worry about the O2 sensors, and she won't be running rich as the oil never enters the combustion chambers.

[Hit Redline]

Originally Posted by Weasel

Correct in that the valve cover gaskets caused this, and is somewhat common on all older engines... I6's and V8's. What y'all are wrong in is that the oil in question doesn't make it into the cylinders at all, untill you pulled the plugs that is... But it is nothing to worry about. The worst thing to happen with the oil in the plug holes is a missfire caused by the oil allowing the coil to spark off to the side.

Don't need to worry about the O2 sensors, and she won't be running rich as the oil never enters the combustion chambers.

Thanks for the response. I guess the question now is the cost for this repair? What might I expect labor time to be for a both gaskets to be replaced?

[Hit Redline]

Weasel, what about the replaced coil pack, did the oil leak have something to do with this going bad?

[Weasel]

The coil packs go bad by themselves over time... doubt the oil had much to do with it. The labor cost will differ with the shops labor rate, but will be a few hours charge. Just call some reputable shops for quotes.