Oil pooling under sparkplug wire cover?!?

exiletalon · Dec 20, 2006

even if the seal appears to be fine, it may be different under temps/pressure- just buy a new one anyway....

Esky · Dec 20, 2006

dmoto92 said:
Oil cap seal was the first thing I checked - unfortunately no evidence of leakage (that would have been nice and cheap!) plus the funny thing is that there is a very slight patern of oil spray on the spark plug wires - the direction of the spray is from the front of the car toward the back - opposite direction from the filler cap. I cleaned off the wires when I noticed the oil and the same patern of spray was back after the next time I drove the car. It's a very little bit o' oil, but enough to be seen on close inspection. Weird.

Thought I might have a leak around the VC to head joint on the front of the engine (thought the airflow from front to the back of the engine might have carried droplets of oil over the top of the engine and that's how the wires got oily.) but no evidence of a leak there either. Might just be some of the oil in the channel where the sparkplugs are is splattering on the wires when I'm driving. Not sure.

I just ordered up a replacement valve cover from another member, so hopefully that will fix the leak. Now all I have to deal with (hopefully!) is the little detail of the stripped VC bolt note in my previous post. Any input on that question?

Thanks again for all the ideas and input - I've learned a lot more from you all than I ever did in the shop manual!

Yep, the putz I bought my DSM from stripped out 2 of my head threads as well. Next spring I plan on doing something with this problem, but I'd like input on what to do/not do, and how dangerous it would be to retap.

dmoto92 · Dec 20, 2006

Esky said:
Yep, the putz I bought my DSM from stripped out 2 of my head threads as well. Next spring I plan on doing something with this problem, but I'd like input on what to do/not do, and how dangerous it would be to retap.

I hear you!

Like I noted: I've re-threaded before, but never on an aluminum head so I'm a bit worried too.

BTW: are you having much of a leakage issue given you have 2 bolts that are stripped out? Did you have to do anything as a temp fix if there was leakage? I'm kind of anal with my cars, so I hate leaving stuff hanging. Unfortunately I have no coin to pay someone else to fix this rigth now.

dmoto92 · Dec 20, 2006

exiletalon said:
even if the seal appears to be fine, it may be different under temps/pressure- just buy a new one anyway....

I actually did replace the filler cap as a "just in case" after my first post. Still got's oil leaking. I was hoping it could be this cheap/easy, but alas, no.

Also as I mentioned in my other post; I also discovered one of the CV bolts is a free spinner. Other than being on my 3rd transfer case, I've never really had any problems with my Tsi AWD. Guess it was my time!

Esky · Dec 20, 2006

Actually, suprisingly, I'm not leaking at all because of those two. I got two longer bolts and one of them grabbed by a thread or two, but the other literally just sits in the hole.

And I hear ya...cash is tough to come by. Plus I'm also pretty anal about my car...and I don't really like anyone touching it but me.

Also, a lot of people claim the Oil cap, and it's true that it can be a source...but I'm bankin on cracks or the stripped mounting holes in the main spark plug well. I've seen this on three VCs and heads now...Notes to each and everyone: Never tighten or loosen anything on an aluminum head while it's hot.

Oil pooling under sparkplug wire cover?!?

exiletalon

Esky

dmoto92

dmoto92

Esky

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities