Oil in valve cover.

I took the small black cover off to check my plugs and there is at least 2 tablespoons of oil on there. My plugs are dry and the PVC valve works fine. Where could it be coming from? Is there any other explanation besides a leaky oil cap?

Leaky oil cap, bad valve cover gasket, or cracked valve cover are the likely culprits. Clean everything out and have a look for hairline cracks. If you don't see any, it's probably the gasket. My money would be on the VC gasket itself.

But isn't the gasket around the lower portion of the cover? Would that allow oil to get into the area where the plugs are located?

It's been a while since I did my VC gasket, but I believe the gasket surrounds the bolt holes for the hardware that holds on the VC on, and oil sneaks up through those threads/holes if your gasket is worn.

I have the same problem in one of my spark plug wells. I was told that when you pull the VC gasket, there are also 4 o-rings that fit under the VC at the spark plug wells. Sounds like you need to replace them also.

This thread came at a good time! I was just going to post asking about this. I have the same problem. I get oil where that spark plug cover would be. No oil is in my spark plug holes(dont know the correct name). So I guess my o ring VC seals are good and it just the VC gasket. Either way when I get to it...I will replace them all. Is it easy? just get the bolts off the VC and replace VC gasket/seal or is it much more involved?

When you replace the valve cover, you also replace the 4 big seals between the VC and the spark plug wells. They're like supersized o-rings, with an inner diameter of the width of your spark-plug well. They should come with most VC gasket kits, but if they don't come with yours, pick them up from the parts store before you leave.

To everyone attempting this job--DON'T torque down the VC bolts very hard! I cracked my VC because of giving 'em too much torque, and I don't want others to make this mistake. Check the manual for the exact specs--it something like 72 inch pounds, but I don't have my manual handy.

i went throught this problem earlyer, i had oil deposit in the sparkplug area, none of the sparkplugs or wires had oil in them, and the oil seals in the sparkplug holes were fine. i ended up having a tinny crack around one of the bolts in the bottem of the spark plug area. it was so small i could bairly see it. i cleaned it the best i could with q-tips, and a rag and used several applications of quick drying JB weld and let it sit over night. worked like a charm.