my engine is leaking oil somehow onto the sparkplugs. any ideas on how to stop it? i thought maybe the seals..

Question

they said i needed to rebuild the engine at the shop but i thought there might be something else i could do for cheaper

the car is a 1994 honda accord ex, i only took it to the mechanics and they diagnosed it nothing more. it has a feeling to the peddle when u press it 1/4 of the way down it kinda rattles the whole car and feels similar to the feeling of a flat tire. and there is no burning of oil, i put in a 20-50 oil and lucas treatment to possibly help it seal the leak. it seems to badly corrode the spark plug electrode but i put in NKG's so its not like the spark plugs are just old but they are already fouled out. it has 263,000 miles on it but i just want a temporary fix for now until i can properly rebuild it cuz my gas milage sucks balls. the mechanic said it was prob the piston rings leaking. the exact engine code is f22b1 and im thinking the leak is around where the valve cover gaskets are cuz thats where the oil is. hope that helped clear some trouble, i dont think i can get an audio on it but ill try

Answer 1

Do you mean leaking oil on TOP of the plugs, outside the engine? or INSIDE, on the plug's firing electrode?
Valve cover gaskets do NOT prevent oil on the firing electrodes inside the engine.

Oily looking spark plugs may be due to piston rings that are worn.
Have you done a compression test? A leak down test? Do you hear broken piston rings tapping? How many miles on your engine? What engine? what valves? overhead?
Put your car next to the computer and start it up so we can hear it please.....

Answer 2

You just need to have the valve cover gasket changed out. In fact you could do it yourself. It's not hard.

There are spark plug tube seals down underneath the valve cover. It keeps the oil from getting in on the spark plugs. Over time these get hard from the heat. Then they let oil in onto your spark plugs. Sometimes you can hear the plug wires go squeesh when you pull them up there is so much oil it there.

Change the valve cover gasket and the spark plugs. You may also need a set of wires if there is a lot of oil on them too.

Oil draws spark away from your plugs.

You should pay between 100 to 150 for the valve cover and the plugs including the labor. A good set of wires (from Carquest - Prestolites) should be around 90 bucks.

You don't need to rebuild the engine. They will keep the car a week change the valve cover and charge you $3000.

So either they are ripping you off or they don't know Hondas

Some answers here sound like they think you are talking about the electrodes down in the cylinder. If they are black that is an internal problem. However it does sound to me like you are talking about the portion of the plug outside the actual combustion chamber. Oil on the plugs will cause them to not spark properly then you get detonation which may be the "rattle" you are hearing.

Also when is the last time the timing belt was changed?

Answer 3

It could be the seals on the valve guides. I am not sure what Honda uses. In the old days GM used rubber seals. If these were bad, oil would run down past the valves into the combustion chamber. No doubt someone out there knows more about how Honda has engineered this engine than I do. From my experience, I would check the compression on the engine. Then put about one teaspoon of motor oil down the spark plug hole and check the compression again. If it is considerably higher, then your rings are bad. Otherwise it may be the valve guide seals which is a much easier/less expensive repair.

Answer 4

The intake/exhaust valves in the head have weak seals. You should go ahead and rebuild the engine anyway. 263+ thousand miles. That car has been a real soldier. Most American cars start having this problem around 120+ thousand.

The reason it happens is most often because your car overheated a few times and the seals get weak as they get old. Normal wear and tear will do it too, though.

Those additives are bogus. They only help temporarily, like for maybe ten miles. If you're have to put additives in your oil, your engine is on it's very last legs.

Get your motor rebuilt. It's money well spent.

Good luck

Answer 5

With that many miles, You're rings are probably worn bad, and need an overhaul. The shaking is caused by warped rotors (probably the front but could be front and rear too). The carbon build up on the plugs is caused by worn valve seals. And the oil in the plug holes is caused by valve cover oil seals needing replaced.

Answer 6

if the engine is leaking oil onto the spark plugs the problem is likely the valve cover gaskets. easy fix on most vehicles. are there other problems with the engine such as burning oil, knocking ect that would need a rebuild? maybe you should seek a 2nd opinion if not

Answer 7

I sounds like it is worn out!
The valves in the cylinder head could be worn out.
It does not sound like you are going to get a cheap quick fix to this problem!
The engine is burning oil, that is why the spark plugs are getting covered.
Putting the different oils and additives are not going to help!

Answer 8

Could be the oil seals on the valves but, is it burning oil all the time? How much compression have you lost? If it's the "Oil Rings" on the positions, yeah, rebuild is the only answer. Sorry.

Answer 9

Replace the valve cover gasket with the 4 doughnut gaskets. take valve cover off and pull old gaskets off,clean real good with carb/choke, after it clean and dry apply a small amount of black gasket maker were the 4 seal are placed then place doughnut gasket in there places. the gasket maker will help seal better.

Answer 10

The government is looking for a sucker dumb enough to take the job. However this is the U.S. and we have to exam the facts etc They boasted how quickly they would handle the next oil spill. They have a plan to cap the leak. Why we are doing this off shore stuff is beyond me. We have natural gas and oil here in the states. Go figure. Excellent question.