Oil in Spark Plug Well

[Lethal8472]

I recently purchased a 1996 Saturn SC2, and it only had several problems when I bought it, which were all fixed. However, one problem has crept back up again. One of the problems I had when I bought it was that one of the spark plug wells would fill with oil. My mechanic replaced the valve cover gasket, but it still fills with oil. Only one spark plug well does this, the other 3 are dry. It's the one closest to the main drive belt that fills with oil. Stranger still is that I keep checking my oil level and it does not drop, and there is no hint of any oil being burned in the exhaust. The engine is a 1.9 L Inline 4 16V DOHC. What could be the problem, and how can it be repaired?

[whatevergoof]

This might not help...
One, I just wanna say you're lucky it doesn't burn oil! I've gotta put a quart in every 1000 miles on my saturn!
Two, my plugs did the same thing and my uncle replaced the head gasket, fixed the problem. But it was all the plugs in mine, so I don't know if you've got the same problem.

[saturnspeed_12]

its still the valve cover gasket. it could possibly be the valve cover since yours would be composite, but i doubt it. i would again pull the valve cover and clean the mating surface on the head extremely well with starting fluid (dont spray onto the head, spray in a rag and go over it once then turn the rag and spray more on and work small spots till dry and turn rag each time you work a new spot so its not oily). if you have silicone on the surface, a good sharp painters razor blade will scrape it off without scratching the head and dont let the silicone fall into the head. now clean the gasket off with the starting fluid again really well. now add some good high temp silicone (usually a black silicone) to the gasket itself and dont forget the plug well gaskets in the middle. you dont need to put a bunch on but make sure you have like oh 1/16 of an inch on there maybe a bit more.

now if you didnt have a gasket and it was all silicone, scrape all of that off and get the gasket and still use the silicone on the new gasket. i always do this to ensure a good seal. also when you install the valve cover, just very lightly snug the bolts down and let it set for like at least 2 hours, then tighten the bolts down to like 89 in/lbs, its normally what we say wrist tight. dont go too far with it because they are small bolts threading into aluminum.