Well a few days after swapping my H22 in while driving the car started lagging and stalling when in high gear. I barley got it home and couldn't really start it after that. When I can get it to start for a few seconds white smoke comes from the intake and headers. I took off my spark plug cover and there was oil there so I took out my spark plugs and they were covered in oil.

I believe my engine is flooded with oil. Is there any way I can safely get the oil out? Will continuing to start the engine cause any harm?

Also I believe the problem stemed from not having one of the nuts for the valve cover so it wasn't completely tightened. Not a blown headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by domostick &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I took off my spark plug cover and there was oil there so I took out my spark plugs and they were covered in oil.

I believe my engine is flooded with oil. Is there any way I can safely get the oil out? Will continuing to start the engine cause any harm?

Also I believe the problem stemed from not having one of the nuts for the valve cover so it wasn't completely tightened. Not a blown headgasket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Were the plug tips wet with oil or just the plug bodies? There are O-ring oil seals under the valve cover. If they leak they fill the spark plug wells with oil. This can cause performance problems. replace the seals and put all the fastening hardware back on the valve cover. As for the white smoke frome the I/E manifilds, do you mean rising from or coming out of? I doubt your engine cylinders are "flooded" with oil.

 

go to autozone ... give them the info on your h22 ... ask them for valve cover gasket kit ... it contains the valve cover gasket ... valve cover grommets ... and spark plug tube seals ... 5th gen [97-01] part number should be 036-1518 and its $54.99

 

Was the smoke you observed blue/grey or was it white?

If it was blue/grey; then engine oil is getting into the combustion chambers. If this is the case; a valve cover / spark plug tube reseal will NOT address this condition.
Oil can get into the combustion chamber only three ways.
1) Worn Oil Control Rings
2) Worn valve Guides
3) Pressure leak between a pressure feed to the head - past a blown / improperly torqued head gasket.

If the smoke was white; that is a coolant / water leak into the Combustion Chamber(s) and it is being turned to steam. In extreme cases this can lead to hydrolock (Can't turn the engine over) and coolant / water showing up in the crankcase.

I'd recommend a static compression test (Leak-down) to determine the internal health of this unit.

P