Spark Plug Change: The complications.

[emankcin]

Hi everyone,

I have few problems while changing my sparking plugs on my 2001 Corolla yesterday.

Schematic of the engine:
____________
|---------------|
| O--O--O--O |
| 1 2 3 4 |
|____________|

I already changed the spark plugs on cylinder#1, #2 and #3 but I encounter problem on cylinder#4. The cylinder#4 was full of engine oil! It turned out the rubber o-ring on "coil on plug assembly" was loosen. I already try to take out as much oil as possible but it's very hard to get it all out.

My questions now are:

1. Where can I buy the rubber o-ring? I went to Advance Auto Parts. They want me to buy the whole "coil on plug assembly."

2. Should I proceed to change the spark plug on cylinder #4 after I clean out all the engine oil?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[emankcin]

OK the schematic was all messed up. I give up trying to fix it.

[pdq]

If I'm understanding your description correctly, you need a new valve cover gasket. All the parts stores should carry it.

You can't just replace 1 o-ring because when you remove the valve cover, the old gasket will be brittle and crack into pieces.

I wouldn't replace your spark plug until getting this replaced, as the new one will foul up quickly as oil gets burned in the combustion chamber.

This guy put up a nice PDF of his replacement:

http://www.peakreflections.com/uploa...eplacement.pdf

[emankcin]

I screwed up the terminology. It's actually not the o-ring. I actually need the rubber ring seal up the plug wire. I took one of the pictures from the pdf you linked:

NOTE: This is NOT my car! I need to find a place to buy the thingy that was encircled.


I only find the excess engine oil in cylinder #4 and all others cylinders are fine. I think it was caused by me being an idiot. I never use the funnel when I add engine oil. Since my car started consuming a quart of oil every 800 miles; I've been adding a lot of oil lately. The inadequate seal around cylinder #4 probably allowed some of the spilled oil leak into the cylinder.

I hope I don't need to replace the valve cover gasket, because it seems to be way beyond my mechanical aptitude.
But I could be wrong. What should I look for to tell if I need to replace the valve cover gasket?

Thanks.

[pdq]

If there is oil at the top of the spark plug (ie bottom of the hole) and the bottom of the spark plug wire, I'd suspect valve cover gasket. That picture shows oil at the bottom of the plug wire, but the top is clean, which means valve cover leakage. If you just spilled oil into the top of the valve cover and there's just oil at the top of the plug wire, then yeah, I'd agree it's just spillage.

I'm not aware of selling anything other than a new spark plug wire set if your plug is missing part of the seal. The plug wire seal is just to keep out dust/debris, it's not a pressure seal like the valve cover gasket, so I wouldn't worry about replacing the plug wires just for that.

[emankcin]

Thanks pdq!

I guess I don't need to buy the plug wire seal.

I will clean up the oil and keep an eye on the cylinder. *crossing my fingers*Hope it's not the valve cover gasket.

For changing valve cover gasket, would recommend that job to a weekend mechanic(i.e. me) or should I take it to the shop. Do you know roughly how much it would be to replace it?

[pdq]

If you're a weekend mechanic with a Haynes Manual, you should be able to do it yourself. It's about a dozen bolts/screws, some scraping and solvent (for the old gasket), put the new gasket in, and reverse the steps.

I'm going to guess a mechanic would charge around $200 plus $20 for the gasket, but a dealer would charge more.