oil in spark plug bays

tedliq · Post by **tedliq** » 14 Sep 2011, 16:24

I changed out the plugs in my wife's '07 S40 the other day and noticed that the plug in the first bank was covered in oil. That would be the bay on the passenger side.

After some generic research it appeared to be a valve cover gasket issue. Additional research indicated there really isn't a valve cover in the traditional sense, and that removing the huge amount of bolts I though would be the valve cover would result in very bad things.

Being the type of person to want to do things myself, what could lead to this?

I certainly don't want to be fetching parts are they fly across the yard, nor do I want to break anything and cost myself any more money. Appreciate your collective knowledge.

D_V_ENT850R · Post by **D_V_ENT850R** » 14 Sep 2011, 19:38

Either the oil cap seal is leaking or the seal between the valve cover and the head by the plug holes is bad!! I would guess the oil cap seal is probably cracked! Clean out the holes as best you can install cleaned plugs and replace oil cap seal and retest!!

tedliq · Post by **tedliq** » 15 Sep 2011, 09:51

I'll give that a shot thanks. I gather the latter issue is the more complicated one, requiring special tools to prevent parts flying all over the place?

D_V_ENT850R · Post by **D_V_ENT850R** » 15 Sep 2011, 14:06

Yeah I think book time on the repair estimator said 6 hours to replace valve cover gasket! I'd check the simple cap seal first!