Question for all of you. I have a '98 SW2 that would not start this morning. A friend came over and we pulled the spark plugs. One plug was covered in oil. We wiped it down put it back and tried again. When it did not start up we pulled it back out to look down into the housing of the spark plug to see if there were any cracks. Below the housing, I could actually see oil sloshing around in the cylinder. We don't think that there is any radiator fluid because when we pulled the dipstick, the oil was actually a little low and looked normal. Any ideas on how the oil got in the cylinder and any thoughts as to the approximate cost of repair for something like this?
'98 SW2 with cylinder problems
Oct 30, 2006
2 Replies
The good news: you just need a new valve cover gasket to fix the oil issue. Oil simply leaks into the area where the spark plug goes, and when you pulled out the spark plug it drained into the cylinder. nothing to worry about, but change the valve cover gasket. The bad news: this would not cause your no-start. Can you give us more information? Does it crank, but not start? Pull off all the spark plug wires. Have someone crank the car while you look at the coil packs (the small end of the spark plug wire). You should see arching across the towers. If you do not - you need a new CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor). $15 part, not to difficult to install.
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-RangerRover
Well, I got it fixed. Had a friend help me diagnose. Just a simple PCV valve and a few spark plugs. Thank goodness.
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