What we were stumped on was the fact that the oil was inside the plug not down the plug, coil and threads etc.

Is this caused by a "inner Gasket?"

Cheers

Mac v70r, I had the same problem last year. it turned out to be the valve covers, and some other rivets that have some type of rubber nut that goes under it then you screw it in. Either way, I changed that valve cover and my plugs. Now all is good to go. My indy spread some type of degreaser in the well to get the oil residue out of it. Good luck...

I may be confused. What part of the spark plug is wet with oil? The white part that sticks out of the head or the electrode end that is in the engine?

If it is the white end that sticks out of the engine, go with my previous post. Change the valve cover gasket.

If it is the other end, change the spark plugs, swap the coil packs from that plug and the next plug and see if it happens again. If it does, to which plug. IE... is it a bad coil pack or a bad spark plug.

Here are a few things which need to be known:
Are you blowing smoke at start up or any other time?
How does she run?
Does she idle smoothly?
Does she accelerate smoothly?
has your mileage changed?

Well, had the top off today and its def NOT the valve gaskets.

As I was saying earlier, the oil is on the TIP of the plug not the threads and coil etc.

Which is swaying towards the valve stem seals??, Everybody has said it was the gaskets but it wasn't.

I am looking at maybe doing the seals next :(

Bloody well sick, not even sure it is that.

Car seems to be running fine, however when you accelerate from a corner or occasionally open the throttle it puffs smoke from the right hand exhaust.If the car is stationary and it is quite heavily revved it blows smoke.
The mileage is 86k.
The car seems to accelerate ok and idles ok, I was speaking to a BMW "master" technician as he said something about back pressure from the cat being blocked??? Ever heard of this?

Mac

we have done the plug coil change thing and the plug just gets oiled up

Mac

I have heard of it. I'm just very surprized that it would happen to such a young engine. My 01 4.4 has 138000 miles and burns no oil.

It does seam to be leaning towards stem seals. if the cat was blocked it should throw a code for cat efficiency.

you can try to clean the cat by pulling the O2 sensor upstream of the cat and spraying some Berryman's B 20 in the pipe.

OK lets think about this for a minute. Assuming it is the same cylinder the plug is getting oiled up in and not the same coil and/or plug. . .

Compression test was done and checks good. That says the rings, piston, cylinder wall, and head are all ok. You are not pumping or sucking oil into the cylinder during the time 2 cycles of the four that the valves are closed. Those being compression and combustion. That leaves the remaining two cycles of the four cycles.

I doubt your pulling in oil during the exhaust cycle from an exhaust valve stem. The flow, for the most part, is out, past the valve so this would not show on the plug; but, would show a puff in the exhaust.

That leaves the intake cycle.

Have you looked at the air/oil separator and all other vacum lines. If you are pulling/pumping oil into the intake manifold it will show in the plug and everywhere else. It will also leave a trail of oil in the intake manifold. If the stem seal has failed there will be little or no oil in the intake manifold. Again, the flow past the valve is going, for the most part, in one direction, from the intake past the valve into the cylinder.

I suggest you get some cans of Berryman's and clean the inside of the intake manifold and check all the vacum lines. Then try cleaning the plug and trying it again.

Changing the valve stem seals is not a fun project. If it is not done properly there is a grat potential for serious damage. An example is, a valve may drop into the cylinder resulting in having to pull the head. A lot less fun.

If you decide to do valve stem seals and have not done them before I suggest you have someone standing next to you that has.

To do them you'll need to put that cylinder on top dead center. I also suggest you fill the cylinder with string through the spark plug hole, leaving the end out of the cylinder so you can retreive it. This is to stop the valve from falling into the cylinder. You then have to remove the cam and the bucket (lifter) and dissassemble the valve. You'll need a valve spring compressor and a magnet to get the retainers off. After removing the valve springs you'll be able to get to the valve stem seals. Like the saying goes, "rinse and repete." There are a total of 32 valves. Keep in mind you'll have to rotate each cylinder to top dead center and fill with string to prevent the valves from dropping. This also means you'll have to retime the engine when your done

Word of caution......If at any time you can't find something (IE valve spring retainer) stop whatever your doing and find it. If it winds up in the cylinder or remains in the head your valve train will self destruct the very first time you start the engine. Same result if the retainer is not seated properly when retaining the springs. A way to check if the retainers are properly seated after assembly is to the tap the top of the valve with a rubber mallet. If the assembly stays together your good. If not, find the retainers and try again.

For you, I hope it is something simple like a clogged air/oil separator and it would actually make more sense. Good luck. If I can help from here, let me know.

SS

Steve,

we have had the oil seperator off and checked it all, that was one of the first things we tried.(Dealer wanted £500.00 to do it) It had no oil blockage in, it was cleaned and replaced. I'm not sure about checking all the vacuum lines etc I will check with my mechanic. Im sure he would of done the appropriate checks, but at this point I'm willing to double check everything.

Have you heard of the stem seals go? Has anyone on this forum changed there valve seals because of the problem I have or similar. I would hate to spend more time and money on this and find out that it isn't the solution.

Mac

To be honest, this is not something that happens frequently on todays engines. The last time I had to change valve stems seals was on a 78 VW Jetta with an unknown amount of miles. The signs and symptoms were the same.

Has it ever been over heated?

I would look to make sure there is no oil in the intake manifold. That is the only way I can think of to confirm were the oil is coming from.

Yes steve we think it has overheated at somepoint before I owned it, when we checked the manifold my mate said it looked like it had got hot sometime in the past. I was told that it might of hardened the seals and they might not work efficiently enough.? We didnt know this until we had the top off and saw the "V".

Mac