Oil in spark plug well

[ROBinGa]

My first post...I recently changed the spark plugs in wife's 2003 Explorer 4.6 which has 128,000 miles. We had service engine light to come on and codes using Advance Auto store tool I borrowed showed P303 and P316 and P171. Helpful guy in the store pulled codes and it indicated a cylinder misfire and he said he would change all 8 plugs and see if that corrected issue. If that didn't then he suspected the ignition coil for that cylinder to be bad. So I changed the plugs with Motorcraft SP 493 and used anti seize on threads and dialectic on plug boots as suggested. While taking out plugs on driver side, the third plug in from front end was covered and I mean covered in oil. I cleaned boot and tube as much as I could and put new plug back in that cylinder along with the other 7 which were trouble free. Nervously cranked the engine and it ran well. Service engine light went off the third time I cranked it and is running well and stronger I think. So I think that is cylinder #7 being third back from front on drivers side. I reported back to my guy at Advance Auto and he said the oil in that spark plug tube is a leaking seal and I need to address right away. He said I could do it since I was able to change plugs but it would be time consuming. But now that I am researching I do not find spark plug tube seal part nor any info online about such a job. Anyone ever had this issue and changed out the spark plug tube seals? Or is it the valve cover gasket? Any comments appreciated.

 

[ponkotsu]

Your P303 and P306 codes indicate misfire on the #3 and #6 cylinders, but you had oil in the #7 . That would indicate that the oil was not the cause of the misfire. But you really should fix it because it eventually will become a problem. I've never worked on that engine so I'll let somebody else answer how to fix the seals. No real harm done changing the plugs because they probably needed it anyway, but those are also not likely the cause of the misfire. If I were you I'd start by swapping the 3 and 6 coils with two others and see if the problem moves. If the problem doesn't move, then it's either a fuel issue (Injector) or compression. If you have a gage, do a compression test and see how they look. With the Ford PCM the misfire needs to be really bad before it triggers a code, so you probably do have a dead miss in those cylinders. Its either fuel, spark or compression. Also try using an HEI spark tester on those bad cylinders if the coils check out.

 

[ROBinGa]

Thanks for the reply. The service engine light went away and the engine is running really well actually so I'm not experiencing any issues now. We plugged in their tool and there aren't any more codes, so I'm not sure there is anymore misfire. I am not real experienced at working on engines so I do not have any of the gauges or tools you are asking about. I have done simple stuff like replacing an IAC valve and another time replaced a hose on this engine that had a crack in the bend of rubber part that corrected a rough run situation but those were unbolt and rebolt jobs. If anyone has ever had the oil leak situation in a spark plug tube I would like to know if it's a serious tear down or unbolt and rebolt type repair. If it's very involved I probably will take to a mechanic. But always eager to save money if I can. Thanks again

 

[pet575]

That stuff is not oil. It is coolant mixed with dirt. It is coming from a leak in your intake manifold, which on this engine causes the coolant to accumulate in the spark plug wells. Eventually the coolant destroys the COPs. I had this exact issue and it killed 2 different COPs on mine; one on the #5 cylinder (driver's side, closest to radiator) and one on #8 (driver's side, closest to firewall).

Only way to stop it is to replace the intake manifold. Search on here. I did a writeup on it with pics. Not a horrible job if you are of average mechanical skill.

 

[rocco123]

Gonna look into that pet575 as I've been having a coolant odor, but can't find any visible leak. Looked at freeze plugs and all over the eng but don't see any signs of where anti-freeze is seeping. Fluid level never dropped off either, so I'll check into the plug wells.

 

[pet575]

I didn't have any coolant loss either. It was a slow leak that I didn't detect but it was enough to run into those holes.