I decided to do some good maintenance on my car today (Seafoam , plugs, wires, and oil change) and noticed a bit of a problem when I was doing the plugs. Plugs one and two had oil on them but plugs three and four seemed fine. Beyond that, it seemed as if I'm running lean. Lets let the pic speak for itself...


Does the oil on the plugs mean that I need new valve seals? Any feedback on this would be great. I obviously don't want to be running lean and oil on the plugs is never good. I'm getting ready to invest in a Haynes manual so if someone can point me in the right direction for the problem/fix, I would appreciate it. Thanks guys.

*EDIT: As seen, the plugs go in the following order - 4, 3, 2, 1

 

From the look of those, its from the top of the plug, not the tip. So yea, that would mean the valve cover ring seats that are suppose to stop that from happening.

Gasket runs Under $20 bucks morst parts stores.



This pic does not show it but if you do a search there is a post on forums with pic that has these spark plug hole seats for the valve cover.

 

Thanks a ton, that's definately a start. What about the running lean problem, can anyone point me in the right direction on that? I think that while I'm in there replacing those seals/gaskets, I'll do just about every other gasket that I can get my hands on too. No use in having to pull that bastard apart later.

 

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i think oil-fouled plugs caused the rich-runnin' problem... so replace the gasket & new plugs, then see how it goes for a month, pull the plugs out again & recheck...

prolonged lean condition should point out to higher temps=whiter plug center ceramic color... but since u seafoamed the engine b4 looking @ plugs i dunno

plugs look like u were running rich instead (correct me if i'm wrong, thanx)

 

Thanks for the answer, I thought of the whole seafoam thing too but couldn't be sure if that caused it or not. However, when I pulled the plugs, at the tip there appeared to be a white residue/buildup. If you look closely in the pic I posted, you can see this. The plug on the far left is the most obvious (imo) example that I was running lean. I think that it just looks like it was running rich because of some of the oil drippage when I removed the plugs. Overall, the oil wasn't actually on the tip of the plug where the spark fires at, it was on the top half, so I'll just have to start replacing seals and see how it goes. Anymore feedback would be great.