Oil in The spark plugs?

[tiernan63]

Hi all.

The story goes like this:
Got a rake of stuff from Camskill to do my service:
NGK iridiums, magnecor leads, fuel and oil filter.

Followed a few guides from sites and from the fto manual and was going well... if not a bit tricky (especially the fuel filter).. and the rain was getting ready to start.

Was making good time, fuel and oil filters on, rear bank done, thrown all together and finishing on the front bank plugs and leads. Got to the final spark plug and pulled it out of the hole only to find the bottom half of the plug more-or-less soaked in oil.

I'm by no means a mechanic but I love cars and enjoy 'tinkering' about with them... I know this is a problem but to be honest the car doesn't seem to be running badly enough to be a major problem, because i reckon I'd notice something severely wrong.

Anyways, to the point:

Has anyone had this problem before or can anyone recommend a fix for it. I'm currently browsing the net to get an idea of what it is and so far it looks like it could be a seal or gasket around the plug or around the cams somewhere.

Also, can anyone recommend where to get the parts i need to replace it?

Thanks for any help in advance guys, most appreciated.

Tiernan.

[mivecmad27]

have you had to top up the oil very often?

[CJ]

Sounds lto me the plug seals are gone, common issue with the 6A13TT in the Galant but you don't often see it with the 6A12 engine.

Camskill should be able to supply. Rubber plug seals are normally sold with a gasket overhall kit (Mitsi p/n MD974018) but you should be able to source them individually for a couple of euro each. Replacing is a reasonably simple job in that its a case of remove the rocker cover and plenum replacing seals and then back on again. If you're the preventative maintance type, change the rocket cover gasket while you're at it.

CJ

[tiernan63]

have you had to top up the oil very often?

No, strangely enough i Haven't had to top up.. I've been watching the oil closely as i don't have the car that long and I'm still checking for any issues i might have missed.

Thanks for the reply CJ. I'll get onto trying to source them now because I don't want to have to shell out for a full gasket set.

Thanks,

Tiernan.

[tiernan63]

Okay, I think i've sourced the bits I'm after but I'm just looking to double check with yourselves before I go ahead and buy the wrong part

This is what I found on Camskill:
http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php? ... 49s9p11348

I've a GR so non-mivec obviously.

[colm_mcm]

Mitsubishi UK ie The Colt Car Company take the pi55 with the price of £ 17.91 + vat EACH. Yes you read it correct. Thats over £100 for 6 small bits of rubber that must have cost 2p each to manufacture........... If you think thats just extortion please Ring John Lennon of the Colt Car Company on 01285-655777

[mcgon1979]

you 100% sure its the plug seals? I thought oil only ever got into the combustion area via worn valve seals or broken/damaged piston rings or blown head gasket. I'd do a compression test on the offending cylinder to make sure before you shell out anything at all. I've only seen it once myself and that was from a head gasket gone.

[mivecmad27]

seeing your not burning oil,are you sure its not petrol that has your plugs wet???

[tiernan63]

seeing your not burning oil,are you sure its not petrol that has your plugs wet???

It's definitely NOT petrol lol. It is definitely oil. it was black and didn't smell of petrol so i guess that much anyway .

I'll try changing the seals first, as i imagine if it was head gasket or worse I'd hope i would have recognised.
Plus it'll cost me the price of a seal set to get a mechanic to do a compression test anyway, so if the seals don't fix it then he'll just have to add that to his expenses it that's' the case.

Reading about a bit on the net, there does appear to be a few stories of old Nissan's throwing this problem up (plug seals), so all being well it's a quick fix.

[mcgon1979]

cool. hope so.. let us know anyway, I'd be curious of the outcome.

[tiernan63]

Hi... haven't been on in a while so I thought I'd start back by updating this.

I eventually went ahead with changing the spark plug seal, a very easy task considering I had done the plugs and leads recently and the majority of the process was similar and it was on the front bank, thankfully

Forcing myself to hit the head rather hard with a rubber hammer had me in a state for a while though. I was made aware to take caution to try and prevent breaking the gasket cause I didn't bother with ordering one. Rubber mallet did the trick eventually, although it does take time and a little more strength than i first thought.

Anyway, replaced the rubber seal in around plug on number 6 and put all back together. Nearly a month has passed and I checked today to see the progress and... Fixed!!! The plug seal did the job excellently. No oil in/around the plug or lead whatsoever, nice as you like.

I also flushed and replaced the coolant and tinkered about with the idle a bit to bring it up to a nice smoother idle, i felt she was choking herself below 1,000. sits happily at the 1,000 mark now so I'm happier too

Thanks to all for the help lads.


On another note my Apexi N1 muffler was over ordered from America so their subbing me a Tanabe Medallion with silencer and some cash back. I'll hopefully get it made up and get some videos going after that.

Tiernan.

[CJ]

Anyway, replaced the rubber seal in around plug on number 6 and put all back together. Nearly a month has passed and I checked today to see the progress and... Fixed!!! The plug seal did the job excellently. No oil in/around the plug or lead whatsoever, nice as you like.

Gald you got it sorted in the end Tiernan

CJ