2000 ZX2 oil soaked spark plug

[wlhavener203]

I recently purchased a 2000 ZX2 w/2.0 liter 54,000 miles with history of regular oil changes. I relaced the original spark plugs and noticed the # 1 plug was oil soaked. The remaining 3 were dry. Engine runs strong and does not use oil. What can I do to correct this problem?

[Intuit]

#1 cylinder as in passenger side ? (United States)

I am not familiar with this vehicle/engine, but is there oil in the intake ? Might be pretty quick/easy to check by pulling off the flexible intake plenum. PCV valve (if it has one) is in good shape ?

Something that might cost money is to have (or do) a compression test on the 1 & 2 cylinders. That tests the piston rings, valve seats. and head gasket. (spark plug well would have to be very well stripped for that to leak compression)

Due to poor part quality, wouldn't personally buy anything other than oil and OEM filters there, but AutoZone does lease out specialized tools at no cost.

[Davescort97]

The #1 cylinder could have leak down on a bad valve seal which would show up as oily on plug. I would put a hotter heat range plug in if it runs strong and isn't using any oil. You could run a compression check on that cylinder to see if the problem is bad rings. You could pull the engine and put new rings in that cylinder, but that's a lot of work! If you are now using 5-30 oil you could switch to something heavier like 10-30. I wouldn't go for 10-40 as it will hurt your performance and gas mileage. Can you live with it if it isn't causing any other problems?

[yotermanic]

Which 2.0? Do the plugs go straight down through the valve cover? If so, I bet you a shiny new nickle that if you replace that valve cover gasket, your problem goes away.