Oil in spark plug wells...no tell tails signs from cam cover

[Lordbenny]

As title suggests...oil in spark plug wells but I can’t see any oil leaks. I think I may have had a little too much oil in the engine....would that contribute? Are there any other reasons the spark plugs well would have oil in them? Ford Puma Zetec S 1.7 in a kit car.

[Munter]

Spillage during a service?

[Lordbenny]

Munter said:

Spillage during a service?

That is an option on a normal car but I’m pretty sure I didn’t spill that much down there. Was just wondering if there is any other way oil could get in there apart from running down from the cam cover? I’ve clean it all out and out in new plugs and when the roads are dry I’ll go for a decent drive and see if there are any tell tale signs.

[Lordbenny]

Lordbenny said:

Munter said:

Spillage during a service?

That is an option on a normal car but I’m sure I didn’t spill any down there. Was just wondering if there is any other way oil could get in there apart from running down from the cam cover? I’ve clean it all out and out in new plugs and when the roads are dry I’ll go for a decent drive and see if there are any tell tale signs.

[Lordbenny]

Lordbenny said:

Munter said:

Spillage during a service?

That is an option on a normal car but I’m sure I didn’t spill any down there. Was just wondering if there is any other way oil could get in there apart from running down from the cam cover? I’ve clean it all out and out in new plugs and when the roads are dry I’ll go for a decent drive and see if there are any tell tale signs.

[Pat H]

Usually it’s a loose or cross threaded plug and the oily mess is actually coming up from the combustion chamber.

I’ve experienced this a couple of times and a carefully tightened new plug has sorted it.

[Evoluzione]

Put a new cam cover gasket on it.

[tapkaJohnD]

Clean up and scatter flour (the baking stuff) onto the area, then test run . The flour will show the location of the leak.
And clean up again easily.

[Lordbenny]

tapkaJohnD said:

Clean up and scatter flour (the baking stuff) onto the area, then test run . The flour will show the location of the leak.
And clean up again easily.

I kind of like your thinking!

[Boosted LS1]

And if you add in some yeast you can bake a roll while you drive :-)

[Wacky Racer]

tapkaJohnD said:

Clean up and scatter flour (the baking stuff) onto the area, then test run . The flour will show the location of the leak.
And clean up again easily.

Brilliant.

[LimSlip]

Evoluzione said:

Put a new cam cover gasket on it.

This. Oil leaks into the spark plug wells are very common on a number of engines including the Zetec SE and caused by a leaking cam cover gasket. A new gasket is cheap and easy to fit.

[Spitwad]

That's what I'd do . To my eyes, the gasket looks like a bit of a crappy design but it is what it is. I'd bet it's failed somewhere along its length.

[sunbeam alpine]

Don't know if it helps, but Alfas used to suffer from a problem whereby the oil filler cap seal would perish and allow small amounts of oil to seep out into the plug wells.

[lemonslap]

I had this problem with my old zetec.

There are rubber grommets on the bolts that hold the cover down, these are a separate part from Ford to the gasket. I replaced these with a new gasket making sure everything was spotless and it sorted it. Also there is a tightening sequence for these from memory.

[E-bmw]

Pat H said:

Usually it’s a loose or cross threaded plug and the oily mess is actually coming up from the combustion chamber.

I’ve experienced this a couple of times and a carefully tightened new plug has sorted it.

Really?

So the combusting gases are carrying un-combusted oil through all the plug threads and depositing it there!

[Pat H]

E-bmw said:

Really?

So the combusting gases are carrying un-combusted oil through all the plug threads and depositing it there!

Yes.

The point is that the gases aren’t being burned.

The car was misfiring. Compression was forcing unburned fuel up the threads along with exhaust gases leaving a horrible mess in the plug hole that looked like oil.

Tightening the plug cured the misfire and the problem was resolved.

Also seen the same symptoms with failed head gaskets on air cooled motorbikes and head/exhaust pipe leaks on old British bikes.