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Valve Cover Gasket/ Oil in Spark Plug Hole

Posted: Aug Sun 26, 2012 6:27 pm
by paintballguy424
After talk of spark plugs yesterday at the Euro show, I tried to remember when I did mine last and decided it had been too long between (15,000 and 20,000 miles). All was going well until I discovered a good amount of oil in cylinder 1, less in cylinder 2, even less in cylinder 3, and almost none in cylinder 4.

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Could not get a good shot of oil in spark plug "hole". But these are the plugs I pulled out.

Assumption is valve cover gasket and spark plug "hole" gasket. Right? I assume the gasket just wears out 118,000 miles and over 11 years old.

Ordered replacement valve cover gasket set and timing chain tensioner gasket set (half moon, not sure if this area is leaking but rather have it than not have it). Product links below. Should the plugs and coil packs be replaced after the gasket is changed due to those parts being exposed to oil? Coils were warranted out two years ago via Dana.

http://www.mjmautohaus.com/catalog/prod ... ts_id=1306

http://www.mjmautohaus.com/catalog/prod ... ts_id=1310

Now when I started it to check if it was running it shot blue smoke out the back killing any mosquitos :thumbsup: around the neighborhood. Assume this smoke is caused by oil that was pushed into the combustion chamber when spark plug was removed and replaced? When I moved the vehicle from the driveway to the street it did puff a small amount of smoke I assume little bit left it'll burn off. Will this go away before I replace the valve cover gasket? Also is it going to cause more damage to the vehicle (combustion chambers,O2 sensors, or Cats come to mind) if I drive?

Sorry for so many questions and for writing a book trying to be thorough.

These are the DIY I found on Vortex. Does not seem too hard 1-2.5 hour job start to finish.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2035487
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4341168

Re: Valve Cover Gasket/ Oil in Spark Plug Hole

Posted: Aug Sun 26, 2012 9:54 pm
by YASHA7FOLD
I would say the worst would be fouling plugs. But I would also change out that valve cover gasket asap. That looked like a good amount of oil in the plug holes and it's not that hard of a job.