Oh oh!

Maybe the result of sloppy oil filling. Is it old oil?

Probably a slow leak. There are seals around each spark plug hole as well as a gasket around the outside of the valve cover.

Use your personal judgment whether it's best to replace now or clean out and recheck in a little bit to see how bad the leak is. I figure it's not that bad because you reused the plug wires.

Actually, since this sounds like the first plug change, I should ask whether you're still within the powertrain warranty period (10/100 for original owner,

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"hyundaitech" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:

I'm actually the 2nd owner.

Matter of fact, I didn't remove the sparkplugs, I was afraid oil would really foul up the cylinders. What is your suggestion on removing the oil? As I needed my vehicle to get to work the next day (today)I just put everything back the way it was. Then search for wiser souls. It starts fine and runs a bit rough after about 5 miles, but hasn't died and got me back and forth to work

When I attempted to remove one of the plugs in an oiled cylinder the oil came to about 2/3 the depth of the sparkplug socket wrench bit. The socket's rubber gripper was too oily to get a grip on the plug, I suppose.

"hyundaitech" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:

Now that you mentioned it, I did have an oil change and the slight shuddering of the motor soon afterwards.

If the mechanic was distracted or sloppy, how would oil get into the cylinders?

(did I mention I hadn't done an tune up since '85?)

Hope I'm not being a pain for asking such nube questions. I appreciate you people very much!

It did not get into the cylinder, but that oil could have cause some shorting out of the wires. When you change the plugs, change the wires also as the oil may have helped them deteriorate. After five or six years it is a good idea to replace the wires anyway.

Actually, the oil is a very good insulator - much better than air. So good, in fact , that the business end of the plug may not fire if immersed in oil. Breakdown voltage for clean - and that's the catch - mineral oil is in the neighborhood of 20 - 30 Kv / mm. But, you are correct about the possibility of the oil damaging the wires and boots.

If this were due to sloppiness, I'd expect that under the cover would be all wet with oil. You can also look at the oil itself. If it's clean like it just came out of the bottle, it's likely it was spilled. If it's dirty like the oil that you normally see on the dipstick, it's leaking from the engine.

Go ahead and remove the plugs and let the oil drain into the cylinders. With all the plugs out and the coils disconnected to prevent inadvertent arcing, place rags over the holes and crank the engine for a few seconds. This will dispel enough oil to prevent a fluid lock-up of the engine. Then wipe the plug tube walls clean and install new plugs and wires. When you start it, it'll smoke from the exhaust until the oil in the cylinders burns off. A hard test drive of a mile or two will probably get rid of it all.

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