Oil/Water In Your Spark Plug Galleys? Write-Up.

[SupraTrey]

So after replacing my Water Pump, Radiator, Thermostat and some other things I went for a test drive. When I got back.... I started to smell burnt oil. Here is where it was coming from. (This is a 7MGE)




So I dug into it further and the cause was a bad/broken Crank Case Cover/Gasket. This is the piece in the below picture that covers the entire area (Green Arrows).



The oil/water mixture (Milkshake) was because not only did this barrier fail to keep water out of the galleys, but it also serves the purpose of a gasket to the 14mm plugs shown in the yellow circles. In my case this was the cause. In your case, remove your valve covers and check for the same type mixture. If oil is clean... your good. If it isn't, start checking for cracks, or you have a major mechanical issue.

So I started to tear it down: (Some of these pics are pretty ugly.....)




Rip this out and throw it away (below)


Find yourself a good helper to hand you shop towels and throw stuff in the garbage from the cleanup:



Cleanup time: I personally used a wet/dry shopvac. Then I used superclean to clean out the valleys. I have also heard people use superclean and pressure washer.... I just couldn't with my mess.... it would of made a HUGE mess....





So now onto the plugs. DO NOT go buy a new cover. This will just happen again. First remove the plugs and inspect for remains of the gasket:



Remove any remnants of the old gasket and clean the entire plug.


Go to your local autoparts store and get some rubber O rings that. I went to O'Reilly's and got Part #Nat-116.

[SupraTrey]

Re-install the plugs and start re-assembly of all other components. You now DO NOT have to use stock/oem plug wires if you don't want to. I did, because I just bought the set not very long ago.




Run the car at idle for at least 10 minutes to build proper temp and oil pressure. Check for leaks.



Drive that beast:


This took care of my problem(s). May not be the case for you. If not, grab A hold of your TSRM. Its also a good idea when you have it torn down and the plugs (not spark plugs obviously) are back in, to do a compression check. I am not afraid to say it...... it is a 7M.

Good Luck.

- Trey

[bassjunkiens5]

Good info. I had a similiar issue about a year ago. I replaced No.1, 2, and 3 gaskets and cam seals to stop my leak. I think the No.3 is like $30! Cute kid btw.

[flubyux2]

What beast? I see a slow celica

Also, I used silicone on my plugs.

What size are those threads? 20mm? If so, you can use oil pan drain plug gaskets for a Subaru.

[SupraTrey]

Bah Silicone.

Yes I believe they are 20mm. You need a 14mm allen to remove them. You could buy the gaskets but why spend so much when a O ring is better and will last longer?

[sixpack]

I just used the Toyota gray sealer on mine, never looked back.

Good to see this wrote up for all the newbies, I get tired of explaining it to people.
But c'mon man, that is far from clean.....
Mine gets simple green & a scrub brush when it gets half as dirty as your 'clean' pics.
(I'm old, and can't help bitching about something)

By the way, the first time I did this, like 19-20 years ago, I did not have a 14mm allen head driver,
so I tool a long 10mm bolt (has 14mm hex head), and welded a handle onto it.

[SupraTrey]

I didn't have a picture of its all cleaned up. Wasn't going to clean it until after I drove it and made sure all leaks were taken care of. I am a perfectionist, so that is what I am doing today.... cleaning her all up. All day......

Well that and I bought new wheels for the White car

[sixpack]

Good man !

[Bmettie]

Don't forget that there is coolant running under the plugs in between the spark plugs,, so if you have coolant in those valleys then that's where its coming from.

[flubyux2]

Silicone is fine.
So are gaskets that are designed for oil Drain plugs.
O rings are hit and miss if there Isnt a tapered seat.

If its just a flat surface, a gasket is better really.

[87supramario]

Should be a sticky in the FAQ. Great write up SupraTrey!

[thorpedo]

Good work, +1 for o rings instead of silicone. Even without the tapered seat it is better than silicone imo. Drain plug gasket would be optimal.

Silicone is for sealing up big gaps in an old 360 dodge....

[Zumtizzle]

I used felt drain plug Gaskets from napa.

Nice write up though.

[D-Oaten]

Copper washers FTW. Did this long ago, and built a new cover for the valley to hold my coils (1ZZ COP). Cool thing is one of the 14MM plugs has a bolt hole in it for a 10MM bolt. A trip to the junk yard yields 2 or 4 of said plugs and you can make a killer looking cover that won't ever leak.

[90mx83]

I took sixpacks advice couple years back when doing my valve cover gaskets, removed that valley cover and used rtv on the valley bolts. Its holding up great.

[MK3Brent]

I used nothing on those threads... No reason to use anything.

[SupraTrey]

I used nothing on those threads... No reason to use anything.

I did for fear of them backing back out. They seem to hold better with something between them and the motor.

[Rajunz]

The purpose of that 3rd engine gasket is to keep crap out of the valley, so that when you change your plugs nothing falls down the spark plug holes.

[flubyux2]

Yeah, ideally. But in reality, I've never seen a 7m with the 3rd cover that DIDN'T have debris under it. There's always some little leaves and bugs that fall in there. And of course, people refuse to use funnels and end up spilling oil in the first valley. Or, the dumb cam cover screws back out/gaskets harden and cause leaks.

At least with that 3rd cover already off, you COULD clean everything out before removing spark plugs.

[MKIIIDude]

So all I'm seeing is I just replaced my valve cover gaskets because of oil in the plug wells and this was the cause? -_- Back under the knife she goes!

[MK3Brent]

Besides... that cover makes it a pain the ass to put spark plugs in.
What I used to do, back in the day... Get a rubber hose (preferably with an ID just under the OD of the porcelain spark plug, then use the the hose as en extension to install or remove the plug.