Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Should there be oil here?

Zetec engine 2.0L...

When I put in the spark plugs the area around the plugs
wires had oil all around it. I changed the plugs and some
oil got into the engine. I was okay with this and burned
off the oil after a few minutes. I put in more oil so she
would not burn up or anything.

My question is should there have been oil in those areas?
I've never had a car that had oil around the plugs.

I seriously doubt it, but I dont know to tell you the truth if its anythign major or not.

The valve cover gasket could be leaking.

I guess that would depend on your skills, your connections, or if you just went to a place. You might want to call up places and inquire prices from them.

It's probably a fairly small leak of the cam cover gasket as mentioned. Not a big problem that needs to be addressed immediatly, so no need for panic. Check around and see if you can find a shop that has some experience with your car and can do the job for under $150 or 1/2 of what ever your local Ford dealer will charge.

The valve cover gasket (cam cover gasket) is a high quality gasket that hardly ever goes bad. You might want to try tightening the bolts a little tighter. That might stop the leak. I was going to replace mine when I changed the timing belt but it looked like new so I didnâ??t replace it.

If youâ??ve had it serviced, maybe they didn't clean the gasket surface like they should have. That would cause it to leak. It's easy to change the gasket if you've got the time and tools.

Just had the identical problem with my wife's Saturn SC-2, and it was the cam cover gasket. On the Saturn, at least, the part was fairly inexpensive (about $35) and it was a very simple job, but as 7999 said, it's critical to get the mating surfaces clean (use "brake clean" spray to clean the oil and residue off). On the Saturn the cover is plastic "composite" so the bolt torquing is very low to keep the plastic from cracking (89 inch-pounds, which seemed not much more than finger-tight). Not sure if the Contour's cover is plastic or metal but if it's the former, be careful if you try to tighten the bolts first to see if you can stop the leak that way.

The covers are metal........at least they are on the 95's.

u might wanna try tightening first, and if that doesnt work then go from there, might save time and money