Originally posted by TronX:
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I'm not sure how this works. If I take off the Gasket cover will oil get all over the place?

You know how on the Zetec engine there is this black strip cover along the top that hide the plug wires. You take that off and then pull out the wires. Now when you look inside you see lots of oil all around in puddels where the plugs go into the engine.

And you all want me to replace the gasket (???) ring thingy..lol





I have the V-6 rather than the Zetec in my Contour, so I'll let the experts answer on the specifics. But your symptoms are just like mine with the Saturn. I was changing the plugs, and the #1 came out of the hole covered with oil. Since there was no oil on the electrode of the plug, and I could see the path the oil had taken from the cam cover gasket down into the plug hole, it was clear (after an initial panic) that it was just the gasket (my first thought was it's-the-piston-rings-let's-just-push-it-off-a-cliff). On the Saturn, the gasket "kit" includes a large gasket for the circumference of the cam cover, and a smaller set of rings that go around the plug hole openings on the cover to seal them (and that's what had failed on mine, and sounds like has failed on yours). I assume the Zetec has the same arrangement, but, as I said, check with the experts here. And, no, oil doesn't fly out when you take off the cover; things aren't under pressure there.