Thread: Tip from neighbor Mechanic

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It's nice having a Mechanic live close by, what I can't fix or know nothing about, he helps me with advice, or I pay him to fix it.

My wife drives small older cars in the country, just to get to work, she doesn’t want anything newer because of the number of Deer that she has hit or they have run into her car. Anyway her 2000 Plymouth Neon was running rough, she said I should put a set of plugs in the car. I said it has too many miles it’s time to give it up, she would not accept that from me. I start pulling the plug wires with the tubes going through the valve cover, two are fine one has some oil, and one was loaded with oil, and the end of the boot was burnt pretty bad. I put my plug socket in to get the spark plug out, the socket looked like it was dipped it oil.

I asked my neighbor Mechanic about this, he said either it was coming from the valve cover or coming past the spark plug. He said to wrap the plug with Teflon tape, and it may stop the oil if it’s coming up from the piston. I used the yellow Teflon tape because it says for gas, oil, and petroleum products. The car has 185,439 miles so if I can get it to go a little longer it will be worth the effort.

If anyone has tips for simple things please post them.

Richard

Same as our PT it most likely is the valve cover gasket leaking. If it was the plug you would be loosing compression.

I don't see any oil around the valve cover, unless it's a seal at the bottom of the long hole where the metal tube goes around the spark plug.

It was running a little rough, it seemed like it was running on about 2 cylinders with all of the oil on the other two plugs.

I'll keep an eye on it to see if I still am loosing oil by the plugs. If it needs a rebuild I'll let it go we have 185,000 plus miles on it.

Richard

If the plug is seeing that much oil you couldn't fire it with a stock ignition.

Originally Posted by ford2custom

unless it's a seal at the bottom of the long hole where the metal tube goes around the spark plug.

Richard

I had a Ford Taurus SHO with the same problem, it's the seals around the top of the spark plug tubes.

Mike

Strip the body, but it on a jeep frame with a big block, a set of 40 inch gumbo mudders, tube bumpers filled with cement and 4 KC lights on the roof. Next time a deer jumps in front of you, hit the gas and not the brake and let the fur fly. It will be a win win deal, youll have free meat to feed the family and a 1 of a kind car.Dont go hunting (poching) the deer, thats illegal, but if there running in front of you on the road, they are free game. All joking aside, I believe some of the others are correct, I think the valve cover should be replaced. They are rubber type gaskett and I believe they have ring around each plug tube and that is more than likely were your oil is coming from. It should be cheap and easy. I still like the 4x4 neon deer killer from hel idea. LOL

I wasn't sure what the engine looked like, so I found a picture, now the plug tube theory makes sense to me. You know a picture is worth a 1000 words

That's it Steve, I have her driving it to work today, I thought I would check the boot to see if it has oil. I thought there might be a seal at the bottom of the tube, I just never had the cover off. It still runs ok, if I can get it fixed fairly cheap I'll do that.

I was thinking I might have to build a cage around the cars that my wife drives to work.

The Neon already has half of a Hemi.

Thanks for your help

Richard

Richard, the seal isn't at the bottom of the tube, the spark plug seals that when it's tightened down, the leak is most likely at the top of the tube. Corey is right, there is a gasket around the top of the tube, they are usually part of a valve cover gasket set. Check your local parts store to be sure.

Mike

Your right, I took the tube out and it's just a sleeve.

Good news so far, my wife just came home from work, I checked all 4 boots they were all dry. I'm hoping the Teflon tape stopped the oil and made a seal.

Richard