oil in the number 5 spark plug hole

15 years ago

I have a '99 Lincoln Navigator and I have found that I have standing oil in the number 5 spark plug hole and a little in the number 6 hole as well. I have removed my valve cover and have found that the seals look good. I also checked my radiator fluid and have found what looks like a foamy substance in the fluid, which usually means a head gasket correct? could it be from the valve cover leaking or are the spark plug holes filling up from a bad head gasket? Please any information would be very helpful. Brian

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

gary__
15 years ago
Oil in the spark plug hole means there's an oil leak...probably the valve cover gasket. It won't leak from the cylinder up. Fill up the radiator and start the engine with the radiator cap off. A steady stream of bubbles indicates a problem. You might just need the cooling system flushed and a valve cover gasket. jmo
john_g
15 years ago
The leak is still the valve cover gasket, or else it's actually at the bottom of the spark plug tube in the head. Simply replace the gasket, and the tube seals, clean the oil out, replace the plug AND the wire and don't worry about it. If it gets oil in it again, it will eventually cause a driveability issue and you will need to install new tubes in the head at that time. (That of course "assumes" the spark plug tubes are serviceable parts)

As far as the milky substance goes, your jumpng the gun on the diagnosis. Do you really have any other symptoms of a head gasket or other kind of internal coolant leak? Some condensation from exhaust blow by gasses is normal. Generally the engine oil has enough additives in it to hold this moisture in suspension, until it is boiled off and then picked up by the PCV system, and then removed from the engine.
Related Discussions
Honda GC crossthreaded spark plug
Q
Comments (5)
Well, I was tickled with it arriving yesterday. They were predicting 5 days... Anyways, rather a simple tool (I was worried it would be complex) with not a lot of instructions. $48 + the shipping where I found it. I pulled the cross threaded plug, shined a borelight into the hole and rotated the piston away from where the plug seats. To start, apply a 'gob' of grease to the bottom of the tool to catch any errant metal that the tool throws off. Insert the tool, turn the knob to expand its threads to engage the good ones at the bottom of plugs reach. Once it has snugly engaged the threads, wind it out. I cleaned up any loose grease and for good measure, inserted it again and repeated the process. The only dicey parts was reinserting the new plug. I was VERY careful to only turn it all the way in by hand. Once it hit the seat, tighten as usual torque specs suggest. I'll admit ~$55 for the tool with shipping is a LOT for such a little tool, but I am back in business with this small engine. And to compare it with having it out-of-service for 3 weeks plus the cost of a helicore... no contest. Anyone interested in this product? I'd give it a hearty endorsement. It's called a "KD back-tap internal spark plug rethread tool" Mine was 14mm to match the plug thread in my honda GC engine. I think they come in all plug sizes. And Made in the good Old U S of A! Thanks to those that followed along and offered help and suggestions.
...See More
Reading Spark Plug: Black 'Soot' Color
Q
Comments (10)
I beg to differ. If you were to show me a perfectly clean plug and said it came out of a strong running engine with more than 20 hours on it and claimed it was due to superior tuning I'd think you were a whack-job. Unless you're running it so lean that you're losing potential power, there's no way. A light coating of soot on the plug is normal on an engine with a balanced fuel to power ratio. AND, that light coating does nothing to affect the performance of the plug. As for cleaning a paper air filter, yes, it can be done with proper care. I, and many others I know, have used this method for years upon years with great success. All it takes is a careful eye to inspect for anything potentially damaging. I wasn't talking about using 100 or 80 or even 60psi. That's why I said low pressure, sorry I guess I should have been more specific, but any bone head should know that paper is delicate. And just as an observation, a hole, say one the size of a pin hole, even a big pin about 0.030" across, would only have an area of about 0.0007sq". On a typical lawnmower air filter of 3x4=12sq" that's only 0.006% of the total surface area IF it was a flat piece of paper. But then it's *not* a flat piece *is* it. ...Jeez-you've got me ranting. Sorry about that. Look, there's nothing wrong with carefully cleaning a paper filter. Replacing it every time it's dirty supports that obsessive jiffy-lube mentality.
...See More
E3 Spark Plugs
Q
Comments (22)
Yes ewalk, I was referring to the products with outlandish claims to get people to buy it. Products that swear to rebuild your entire engine with just one 12 ounce bottle added to your crankcase, or say you will get substantially better gas mileage instantly. Sorry to offend you Sax. I didn't know that you had Dura Lube, Sham Wow and Leak Ender stock. As for E3 spark plugs, I have tried them and have not seen any great improvement. If you have a starting problem and an E3 made it better, well good. Most likely a hotter plug of the same brand as the OEM supplied would have done the same thing for half the price. But if it was quick and easy and worked, great. Most of us won't miss a house payment over a $6 spark plug. I have a set of Split Fire plugs in my wife's car right now. Why? Not because they work better or make a super fancy "flame front" across the combustion chamber. It was because they are platinum tipped and were on sale for $1 less per plug. Do they work better than the Bosch platinums they replaced, no, but they worked just as well. I try to stick with the stuff that works for me. Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, Kano Aero Kroil, Sta-Bil, etc. Sax, I do try new things on a regular basis but not because of outrageous advertisements or some Joe Blow on an internet forum swears he got a 35% horsepower boost by pouring it in. I'm still wanting to try Star Tron fuel treatment but can't find it locally. I agree with rdaystrom. Most of these gimmick products just mask or temporarily hide other problems. Just like running a thicker oil can most times hold down oil consumption in a worn engine just as well as well as some high dollar oil additive that basically just thickens the oil anyway.
...See More
Spark Plug All Crudded Up
Q
Comments (8)
I checked my compression today and it read 105psi. I am not sure what the factory spec is, but it seems like a reasonably good number for ignition. I am wondering if burning oil simply gunks up spark plugs and perhaps I may need to change them more often. Another thought I had was that this new syn.oil I put in this season is removing the old sludge from the conventional oil of other seasons, and it is ending up on my spark plug. Other than burning oil and gunking up the spark plug (the plug never fouled by the way) the machine seems to run fine. I am just concerned that something else might be wrong, causing bigger problems. It was a pretty gunked up plug for one season's use. If anyone else has some thoughts or some test I can run or something I should check, I would appreciate the suggestions.
...See More
talon1wolf
Original Author
15 years ago
No I don't have any other symptoms of a head gasket or cracked block. The only time that this truck has ever over heated on me was two years ago when the radiator went bad. Other then that it runs like a champ other than high gas consumption. There are not spark plug tubes in this vehicle it is just holes that are bored through the head and each spark plug has an indipendent coil pack. When I pulled the valve cover off I noticed that there is four round disks that sit ontop of the head where the spark plug shaft is and I'm thinking that one of those is the problem. I'm going today to get the new valve cover gasket and those little round disks and will re-assymble the valve cover and intake and I will be dumping the radiator and flushing it. I will let you all know what happens, Thanks very much for all the input.

oil in the number 5 spark plug hole

Comments (3)

gary__

john_g

Related Discussions

talon1wolf
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

oil in the number 5 spark plug hole

Comments (3)

gary__

john_g

Related Discussions

talon1wolfOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

talon1wolf
Original Author