just put new pistons in last week.......i pulled the spark plug wire out of #1 and oil and the spark plug is completely soaked in oil.....i can only see the very top of the plug.......#2 is the same but not as bad and 3 and 4 have a bit of oil.......any ideas......we put new pistons, rings and head gasket.........whats going on? we drove around right after we put it together and did a CR test and all compression was 235-240....i checked the oil level and its fine and no smoking coming from the exhaust............could it be the valve cover seals?

 

yes, check those little rubber rings around the valve cover spark plug holes, i'm pretty sure thats where its comming from, I try to replace those every 2 times I take my valve cover off.

 

I agree -- it's probably the round spark plug tube seals on the valve cover. This same thing happened to my bother's Prelude. If the oil is on the top of the plug (like where the white ceramic is), I'd go with the seals. If it's on the tips of the plugs (like the part that ignites inside the combustion chamber) -- ouch!

By the way, which pistons did you end up going with? Did Calvin help you get them in, or is he too busy with the Subie?

 

Yup, they are called "tube seals".

 

yeah, i'm gonna pick them up right now.....hey Chris, i ended up getting USDM type r pistons........Mike K gave me a hell of a deal for balanced pistons......it only took me and calvin 3.5 hrs to pulled them out, and about 5 to put everything back together......calvin just has a manual boost controller and a cool little Blitz TT......I think he's looking into an STI turbo upgrade!......