2200 camry oil in spark plugs?

[91redtercel]

hey my friends uncle has a camry with the 2200 engine and automatic trans. he brought it over today complaining of a strange noise. so we took out the spark plug wires that go into the valve cover and they had some oil on them, so we took out one of the plugs and it had a bunch of oil. now i know this is not a good thing, but what is the problem here? i have my suspicions but am scared to say them, lol. this thing has 180k miles on it.

[Nick]

well either the valve seals are leaking like crazy, or the combustion chamber isn't sealing, so, (partially blown head gasket, bad rings something of that sort

180k miles is a respectable run from any engine, could be time for a rebuild

[91redtercel]

thanks for the reply, my best guess is head gasket, but wouldnt there be coolant mixed in? its only oil.

[Nick]

well if its only partially blown ( and only hit an oil passage) then it could be only oil

[tightcamry129]

is there black smoke coming from the tail pipe too? if then, the car is burning oil. I'd first add in that RESTORE for 4cyl engines and see if that helps. If not, then you've got a bigger problem than just leaking piston rings and seals...

[gcs118]

Originally posted by tightcamry129
is there black smoke coming from the tail pipe too?

Doesn't blue smoke signify burning oil? I thought black just meant a rich condition.

[dspieker]

gcs118 Sounds to me like a valve cover gasket. 13$ at auto parts store about half hour to fix.