spark plug "holes" in valve cover full of oil!

Leaking valve guide seals I would guess.

Ted

Your story doesn't fly, supa. If the plugs came out oil soaked, those cylinders were not firing and it could not have been running fine as you say. If it is running fine, you got the plugs soaked on the way out. And if you let a bunch of oil run into the cylinder you are dam lucky that you did not lock up a cylinder and bend a rod. What did you do with the gray gunk in the radiator situation? Did you bypass the cooler or replace the radiator to eliminate that possibility? Was the trans fluid contaminated with coolant? You leave too many unanswered questions and your testing technique is very suspect. If it runs fine and the contamination into the radiator is fixed, then fix the oil leak and drive it.

The spark plug tubes have a gasket on the top that seals against the valve cover to keep the oil out. These gaskets should be part of a valve cover gasket set, but sometimes they are sold seperately. Replacing the valve cover gasket and spark plug tube gaskets should stop your oil leak

I think the OP is talking about oil pooling around the spark plug where it runs through the valve cover. I had a old Dodge Slant-six that used to do that and my Toyota 3TC Hemi does it a little. What I would do with the Dodge is pull the wire off and use my compressor to blow out the oil, covering the hole with a rag and then pull the plug. Now that you have oil in the cyl. you may have to remove all the plugs and turn the engine over with the starter to blow out the oil that drained down into the cyl. Cover the holes with rags or you'll have oil all over everything. If you don't want this to happen again you need to replace the valve cover gasket AND the "O" rings/flat washer that seals around the spark plugs between head and valve cover. I don't think that your guage will give you good readings now that it has oil in it.

HTH, Rick

Right. Valve cover gaskets are bad. Probably a good idea to replace them before the plug wires fail from all the oil, and to keep oil from getting in the cylinders when you change plugs.

--scott

Many vehicles have that problem, not just Saturn. The valve cover gasket is bad. Replace it.

Common Saturn problem. You need a new gasket kit. I believe mine was around $35 for the outer cover ring and the 4 little rings.

When you see a kit, you'll think "Thirty-five dollars for that!" The gasket looks like it was squeezed out of a silicon chalk gun onto a piece of cardboard and then wrapped in kitchen-grade Handi-Wrap.

Was an easy, but messy job. Make sure you got a torque wrench for the bolts. Might want to look and see if the upper engine hanger mount is shot as well while you're at it (another $85 or so with new bolts).

Mine never leaked again up until the day I got rid of it (Dual-Cam model, fwiw). Couldn't say much about the Saturn's affinity to use oil though (especially the stick shift model).

B~

"B. Peg" wrote

You could try to mold your own out of silicone RTV.

I believe you could do it yourself with a RTV in a chalking gun and maybe it would adhere better as well. It is pretty thick (maybe 1/4 inch in diameter).

If I had the problem again, I would try it as the Saturn gasket set is pricey at best.

B~

"B. Peg" wrote

There's two problem. RTV is hard to remove. It can also clog the oil pickup screen.

The solution might be to apply just a good amount over your old, now rock- hard gasket and wrap a layer cling wrap over it. Place it back lightly into the head. Once dried, remove the cling wrap and use it as you would normally.

I'd never tried this since ours cost only $12 for a genuine gasket and I think this wouldn't work. What might work is making one out of a mold.

the reason you have oil in the spark plug holes is the valve cover is leaking at the valve cover orings take the valve cover off and replace the orings and the valve cover gasket and that should take care of your problem , the reason i know this is i work on cars for a living ok need to get to work, have a good day