oil coating spark plug causing misfire code??

[balzach010]

my sister jsut recently purchased a 97 soch atx neon. she had bought it off a girl that didnt want to go thru with fixing the problem so she purchased it for $300 with 65000 miles on it. when i pulled the old plugs from the car they were badly fouled and the #4 cylinders plug had oil coating the electrode. i changed out all the plugs and cleaned out the gunk from the tubes. the car ran brand new for maybe 30 miles and the misfire came back. i got a valve cover gasket set and replaced all that and it still does it... can anybody lean me towards the right direction in what i can do to fix this ??

[das2123]

When you replaced the valve cover gasket you should have replaced the sprak plug tube seals also. They are around $5-$10 from the dealer.

[yale329]

Might be wrong, but it sounds like you may have a piston ring problem. I don't think it is the spark plug seals, altough they should be changed. The brass spark inserts are just pressed into the head. Even if the brass pipe is sticking out of your valve cover, you can just tap it down with a block of wood and a hammer gently...
your spark plug is separated and tightened independently into the head. The top of your plug will be oil soaked, but this should not effect your elctrode on the plug.
Hope I'm wrong, good luck

[das2123]

Originally Posted by yale329

your spark plug is separated and tightened independently into the head. The top of your plug will be oil soaked, but this should not effect your elctrode on the plug.

Each plug well has an O-ring seal ot the bottom where the plug goes through the valve cover. Failure of this seal will cause oil from the valve train to seep into the plug wells. Assuming the actual electrode end of the plug is dry (discounting fresh drips from removal), oil in the plug wells does not mean head gasket trouble but it could be.

[yale329]

Just changed my sons 2000 valve gasket and top oil seals. Though it is not a 1997, they were a bugger to knock out.
One brass plug shell came off with the valve cover. I did not see any oil seal at the bottem of the shaft in the head. Checked my book just now and still can't find it. Like I said, a 97 might be slightly differnt. I have had no leaks for a month now. Please reply if I missed something. I'm still concerned hearing that a new plug is fouled with oil again. I still feell a compresion, or vacum test should be done. The plug if tightened right should not allow oil to drip into the cylinder.
Thanks Wayne