Oil in plugs? and 02 lincoln v6 missfire

[magRT]

My 02 lincoln v6 with 90k miles on it began running a little rough the other day so i figured id try changing the plugs. i could only reach the driver side ones because of the intake but one thing i noticed was there was a small amount of oil in the first two plugs, #4, 5, and 6 had a quite a bit in there. is this bad?

so i went back to autozone and had them check the codes and they said that cylinder 3 had a missfire. So i guess i need to remove the intake and swap out the plugs and coils. Are the coils on top of the plugs? and is there anything else i should replace? do i need a new intake gasket?

thanks guys.

[joegr]

Originally Posted by magRT

...and is there anything else i should replace? do i need a new intake gasket?

thanks guys.

Yes, you need to replace the valve cover gaskets.

[shorod]

And as long as the intake manifold gaskets are in good shape, Ford considers them reusable.

-Rod

[magRT]

Originally Posted by joegr

Yes, you need to replace the valve cover gaskets.

but its a v6, from what i saw the plugs arent underneath the valver covers, isnt that only the v8?

[joegr]

Originally Posted by magRT

but its a v6, from what i saw the plugs arent underneath the valver covers, isnt that only the v8?

Did you really remove any of the plugs? How can you not know where they are if you did? (I am assuming that the oil was on the outside of the plugs.)

The plugs and coils are not sealed under a cover on the V6 like they are on the V8, but they are still inside a well surrounded by the valve covers.

(The plugs on the V8 aren't "underneath the valver covers" either. They stick through the middle of the valve covers. An additional cover (on each side) goes over the plugs/coils and the top of the center of the valve cover. These covers are to prevent water from getting in and to make the engine look neater. They don't do any oil sealing.)

[magRT]

This is my friends lincoln and i only helped him for about 15 minutes. ive only seen the inside of the engine once, hence my ignorance of things. Thank you for giving a detailed explanation.

[Casper_LS]

Sorry - I have 4 questions at once, so I'll number them so you can respond easier.

I had a similar issue a few weeks ago; the car was running quite rough and I got a misfire code on #5. A mechanic friend of mine told me to pull the coil and the plug and to run the motor and let the extra oil blow itself out. 1. Is this safe?

2 Also, what is it that causes oil on the plugs? Am I correct in assuming it means I need a new valve cover gasket?

Oh, and one more question: The car seems to run a lot more rough when it's hot outside. (I brought it from Utah where it was in the 70s to Vegas where it's over 100 and there is a noticeable difference). 3Would this be consistent? Oil thins when it's hot so more gets through the cracks?

4 If it's not the temperature, could it be elevation that's causing the car to run rough (there's much more Oxygen to burn down here in Vegas that there was high in the Rocky Mountains) -- I would imagine in the 3 weeks I've been here it would sort itself out.

Again, sorry to ask so many questions -- I wish I knew half as much about engines as any of you. Any help and/or advice you can offer would be much appreciated.

[joegr]

1. No. Some raw fuel will get to the catalytic converters and cause some damage. It wouldn't accomplish anything anyway. There isn't any oil in the cylinder itself, unless you have bad rings or valve stem seals. If you have either of those issues, then nothing is going to help short of replacing the rings or the seals. I doubt that you have that.

2. The common issue is to have oil on the outside of the plugs (and cylinders) in the plug wells. This comes from leaking valve cover gasket seals. Suck the oil out of the wells before you remove the plugs. The valve cover gaskets will have to be replaced.

3. Oil degrades the coil boots and allows shorts to happen. This stresses the coils and overheats them. It is not uncommon for this overheating to be worse when it is hot outside. The coils, plugs, and boots will have to be replaced. (The boots come with the OEM coils.)

4. You're over thinking it. You already know you have oil in the wells, so you know the coils are messed up. You have to fix that first before you look for any other problems.

[Casper_LS]

Joe,

Thanks. I figured I was overthinking it -- but that's what I'm good at.

How hard are valve cover gaskets to replace? Should I start calling shops or is it something that a reasonably intelligent but unexperienced-under-the-hood kid could do?

[shorod]

If you are not experienced with removing vacuum hoses without breaking them or putting things back together without leftover parts after taking something apart, I would suggest you let someone more experienced tackle this. However, it doesn't need to be a shop, if you have a friend/co-worker that is good with cars and not easily intimidated, the job really isn't all that bad. Since you have the V6 you should also change out the PCV elbow while it's all apart as well.

-Rod

[Casper_LS]

Rod,

Do you have PDFs on these repairs? I've got a friend who's willing to help but he wanted me to go buy the Chilton guide to make sure we got it all done right. I can't find a Chilton for this car anywhere -- so I'm hoping you can send me the guides for valve cover gaskets and PCV elbow replacement.

Also, what else should I replace while I'm in there -- Spark plugs and coils? (The car is approaching 90K ... if that makes a difference)

Thanks!

[shorod]

Yes, I do have PDF instructions and JPEG images from when I went through the PCV elbow process on my wife's 2002 LS V6. I can e-mail them to you if you provide me with your e-mail address in a private message.

You should plan to replace the spark plugs while you have the top of the engine this far apart, and you might consider replacing the coils as well.

-Rod

[dfalk85]

I have an 02 lincoln ls with the v8 but I just had the same problem. I just replaced the valve cover gaskets because they told me they go around 80,000 miles anyways. wasnt to hard. Once you unscrew the covers to get to the coil packs/spark plugs just screw they out one by one. take off the valve covers clean it up a bit get all the oil out off the spark plugs then put on a new gasket and put it all back together.

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, the job of replacing valve cover gaskets is considerably easier on the V8 than on the V6.

-Rod

[Mbsav]

Originally Posted by shorod

Yes, I do have PDF instructions and JPEG images from when I went through the PCV elbow process on my wife's 2002 LS V6. I can e-mail them to you if you provide me with your e-mail address in a private message.

You should plan to replace the spark plugs while you have the top of the engine this far apart, and you might consider replacing the coils as well.

-Rod

Hey Rod, can you send me the PDF and jpegs in a private message please? I would hope a 2002 and a 2000 are not too different....
thanks...