Valve stem seals - replacement - weekend project?

[08EddieCA]

I have a 2008 Ford Exp ED 4.0L V6 4x4 with 126,000 odo.
I have oil on my park plug collars. My mechanic states that I have good compression.
I'm wondering if replacing the valve stem seals will help the problem. No blue smoke. No oil consumption - haven't had to add oil in between oil changes.
The oil is not in the wells as others have described. It's on the collar of the spark plug - or the threads.

I guess I have three questions:
1 - is the oil coming from the valve stem seals
2 - if so, would replacing the seals be sufficient
3 - weekend project for a diy garage weekend mechanic - not trained? (I don't have to mess with timing chains etc.)?

Thank you for your input.

 

[shucker1]

Valve stem seal leakage would not show up on the threads of the plug. It would be more evident as deposits on the plug tip or blue smoke during a cold start.

Valve stem seal replacement requires the heads to be taken off and usually sent to a machine shop.

They can be done on the engine but at extremely high risk of engine damage if you screw up and requires special tooling and lots of experience.

Not being a V-6 expert I would say you have the beginnings of a valve cover leak which is a lot easier to fix.

As long as the plugs remain torqued in place properly I don't think any oil on the threads is going to cause problems.

In fact it may help to prevent a seized \ stripped plug later on.

 

[08EddieCA]

Thank you for the quick reply. I won't touch it. If it's the valve covers then I'll deal with that later on. I like the point that the plugs won't seize. Great point. I'll research valve cover leak. In the mornings I have very light white smoke for about 10 seconds then nothing. No blue at all.

I'm getting ready to change the water pump, front crank seal, and hoses/heater hoses. I was going to try to tackle the valves if "easy." I might check the valve cover parts. I'm sure felpro has a set of valve cover seals.