oil on plugs 91 corolla std

Hi All, I'm a newby to this forum.

I've had my Corolla for about 7 years and haven't done much to it other than change the oil and tires, and replace the distributor and alternator a year ago. A month ago the transmission died on me (with an awful grinding noise like stirring a trashcan full of rocks) and the insurance co towed it to a nearby shop. After the shop finished replacing the transmission with a rebuilt one my car hasn't been the same. Now when I start the engine it lacks power and sounds like it's missing until it heats up, then all the cylinders start firing and it has plenty of power. The radiator was also blowing coolant out the overflow reservoir. There is also now a hole in the muffler, which I'm going to patch tonight, that is so loud it makes it hard to tell what else is happening. Last night I pulled the plugs to clean them and felt oil on one of the plugs. In the back of the Haynes manual it says this is often caused by a bad seal in the cylinder that lets the oil in. A co-worker insists the same thing happened to his old tercel and it was a blown head gasket.

If it is a blown gasket or bad seal, is this a repair that a home mechanic of limited experience can do or will I have to go to a shop? Any idea how much a mechanic will charge for this if I have to take it in?

Also, given this scenario do you recommend getting a compression guage and checking the compression in the cylinders before I go further? What will it tell me?

Thanks,
Loren

i had the same problem with my 91 corolla. its your spark plug seals on your valve cover. these seals cost me like $.79 each at pepboys. all you have to do it pull out the valve cover, carefully pull out(i used a needle nose plier) the sparkplug seals from the valve cover, and put the new ones on. make sure before you pull the old ones off make sure you know which way they go. i hope this helps good luck

P.S
you would be able to change the seals at home with basic tools. also you might also have to get a valvecover gasket as well. just make sure to clean of any oil on the plugs and wires. i don't think there is any kind of need for compression testing.

Thanks for the advice. I took a peek at the plugs and found what you're talking about. I'll pull the valve cover this weekend and give your advice a shot. Let y'all know how it goes on monday.

Well I pulled the valve cover and replaced the spark plug seals and the valve cover gasket. I believe that has fixed the existing misfiring problems.

I left myself with a tricky problem though. I broke off one of the guide bolts by overtightening. Has anybody ever replaced this piece without getting a toyota dealer department to do it?

I also am looking at pulling and rotting out the radiator this week. I tried some of that radiator cleaning solution but don't think it quite did the trick.

Thanks,
Loren

its good to hear the misfiring is fixed but i am not sure about the guide bolts since i never had to deal with it. you might be able to extract it out and may be get a replacement one, but i am not sure. if the valve cover doesn't seem to be leaking oil i would just leave it as is. good luck with it