what causes oil in spark plug tube?
 

my buddy has a b18c1 and his #4 cylinder spark plug has oil in the tube that the spark plug sits in....we took all the plugs out like a week ago and regapped them and we noticed a little oil on the walls of the tube with the plug still bolted down we didnt think much of it at the time but now his car wont start it cranks fine so its not the battery and its geting fuel because his fpr,injectors and pump are all brand new, so we took out the #4 plug wire and noticed oil all over the walls of the plug wire tube we didnt even take the plug out yet because this weekend we are gonnd do 4 new plugs and 4 new wires..my question is what causes oil to come up through the plug? is there somthing else we should look at or is it somthing as simple as changing out the factory plug from 1995 for new set? i told him its probally just routine matience and all we will have to do is change the plugs and wires and it should be fine but just to be sure what else should we look at?

the battery is 30 days old,the injectors,fpr,and pump are 2 months old the alternator is about 1 year old and he has a starter but we havnt had a chance to put it in yet because of illinois cold weather and him lacking a heated garage.there was nothing wrong with most of the parts its just somthing i told him to do so he knows when it was installed because we have no clue if the previouse owner did any routine matience besides oil changes https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

pull the valve cover off and flip it over, he`s missing the rubber ring for that cylinder. easy fix. I can`t remember what they are called.

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (vtecvoodoo)
 

yea that is the first thing i though of too but those are fine..the oil is at the lower part of the tube and the top of the tube is dry to the touch the nut on the plug is about halfway submerged in oil..could it be the little crush washer on the plugs is maybe not sealing or somthing?

those little gaskets are pretty new because he got a new set from honda when his head was built like 4 months ago he has skunk 2 cams,gears,retainers,dual springs,and valves,mugen head gasket,skunk 2 intake mani,jg t/b,dc jdm ss header all the rest of his parts have nothing to do with the head so i wont mention them


[Modified by FF-Panda, 5:26 PM 1/23/2003]

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

anyone know or have this happen before?

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

All I could suggest was the same thing vtecvoodoo said.... My friends spark plugs were a little loose when we took them out, perhaps some oil seeped past them.

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

There should be no oil coming from the sparkplug hole....if there is you have some serious ring issues. The only way oil can get into the sparkplug tubes is from the top where the valve cover rests on the cylinder head. The seals may be there but under high oil pressure they may leak.....also the valve cover may not be tightened down properly. I would replace the o-ring seals and i wil bet that fixes the problem.

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (h22hybrid)
 

ok thanks guys https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

The spark plug tube seals don't have to be kissing in order to have soaked plugs - BUY NEW ONES.

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (B18C5-EH2)
 

OK im just gonna make him buy new plugs,wires and tube seals

Re: what causes oil in spark plug tube? (FF-Panda)
 

when u buy new tube seals u'll have to probably buy a new valve cover gasket as well..that happened to me and all i did was change the spark plug cylindar gasket and the valve cover gasket..