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I took some pictures. The car has 107K miles and the plugs a little over 30K. I was surprised to see how much oiled the top portion was. Is that normal ?? Please take a look at them here: Plugs Photos Thanks
Anything is POSSIBLE... sowing the seeds of love"
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I took my spark plugs out at 99K and they had never been removed before, and looked nothing like that, no oil was covering them, and they were all a light whiteish brown color on the ends, as for where the name is, mine looked like the ceramic was burnt like urs do but they didn't have what appears to be rust, or the oil all over them. So I'm gonna say no its not normal, but Im no expert.
my $0.02, hope it helps at least a lil bit
Alan
93 Acura Integra LS 5spd
Horizon Gray Metallic
-------------------------
-96 Gl Zetec ATX- Totaled as of 11/29/03 at 4pm
Champagne Metallic CC
Pics
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Joined: Jul 2001
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I am Canuckian
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I am Canuckian
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Is your engine bay really oily? that much oil on the plugs threads would make me think that your engine is really dirty. I can't see the oil coming from inside the engine and working its way up. I'd imagine with oil in the spark plug hole when you removed the plugs you got it on the threads of the plugs. From the tips of the plugs I don't see to much out of line.
Green 96 mystique gs 4cyl mtx
16.9 in the 1/4 mile @102500 miles
95SE in Midnight Red MTX
MSDS headers and y-pipe
SVT exhaust
SVT UIM
Optimized se TB.
Full pre 98 SVT body kit
15.741 @ 87.73mph :)
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You need to pull the valve cover and replace the gasket and plug bore seals (like O-rings). The extra oil will destroy the plug wire boots, the plug tips look normal.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" -George Santayana
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Must be that jumbly-wumbly thing happening again.
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I can recall that when my '95 GL with a Zetec had about 100K I did a plug change and they looked exactly like that.
The previous post is correct and his suggestion that you change your valve cover gasket ($29.00 AutoZone) will fix the problem. Oil is leaking out from the gasket and gathering in the wells that the sparkplugs live in.
A piece of advice:
Be very carefull when you install the new valve cover gasket. If it is kinked or messed-up at all it will leak. Also, once the engine heats up the new gasket will have to replaced if you take it off again. The heat distorts it as it conforms to the engine.
Good Luck!
Danny Brown
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I can read em. They say Motorcraft AZFS 22PP. ha ha ha....ha........ha.  .....Sorry.  They look fine to me except for the oil on top. Valve cover gasket is probably right.
R.I.P. 05/06/2004 106K
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Originally posted by Rogerm60:
You need to pull the valve cover and replace the gasket and plug bore seals (like O-rings). The extra oil will destroy the plug wire boots, the plug tips look normal.
Roger (and others) are right on track. You have excessive oil in the spark plug wells due to leaking seals that are part of the valve cover gasket system. The brown colored porcelain is from oil stains. The firing tips look perfectly normal.
I would go a step further and replace the plug wires along with the plugs and valve cover gasket because the wires are most certainly damaged from such a large quantity of oil.
And by the way, how old is the timing belt? If it is original, now is the time to replace it too. If you follow the factory instructions (and not all find it necessary) the valve cover gasket will need to be changed for that anyway.
Jim Johnson
98 SVT
03 Escape Limited
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Thanks EVERYBODY.. including the JOKER !!!  Regarding the job below, could I do it myself ??? How involved is it ??? I've done few small things on the car, nothing major, and I am willing to play with the valve cover, UNLESS someone tells me it is a little confusing. Anyone has done their covers ??? Originally posted by Rogerm60:
You need to pull the valve cover and replace the gasket and plug bore seals (like O-rings). The extra oil will destroy the plug wire boots, the plug tips look normal.
Thanks again, REALLY.
BB
Anything is POSSIBLE... sowing the seeds of love"
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If you are not fairly experienced at car repair I wouldn't try to replace the timing belt yourself. It is fairly complicated and once you have it off I suggest replacing the timing belt tensioner as well as the timing belt guides. Also, since it is right there... replace the water pump. It requires proper tools, jackstands and about two evenings of your time. It isn't a fun job unless you are REALLY into working on a car!
Some people may dissagree about the tensioner, but mine broke apart at 168K while the ORIGINAL timing belt was still intact.
waterpump $79.00
tensioner $72.00 (only available from Ford)
guides (2) $132.00 (only available from Ford)
valve cover gasket $29.00
Take it all with a grain of salt!
Danny Brown
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