Hello, I am new to this forum. I have a 1996 Avenger 4 cyl. DOHC. I just replaced the valve cover gasket and the 4 rings that come with it. There is oil sitting around the spark plugs. How do I go about getting it out of there? Can I just remove the plugs and let the oil run down into the block? Also, once I replaced the gasket, the car is running like crap. There is a really bad oil leak coming from somewhere on the back of the engine. It's not coming from the valve cover because I can see that there is no oil leaking from it. It sputters really bad while excellerating and wants to stall at stops. The leak is so bad that when I got home with it there was oil all over the underside of the car. I don't know why this would all of a sudden happen just from replacing the valve cover gasket. Also the check engine light is coming on and flashing because of this. I know some of the plugs have to be fowled out due to the oil sitting around them, but it wasn't acting this way before I replaced the gasket. Also, I was going to take out the #1 spark plug but the socket won't go around the base of the plug because there is some rubber washer looking thing that is around the plug and is obstructing the socket from going all the way down the plug. Any ideas on that one? It also prevents the plug wire from locking to the top of the plug unless I trim the wire shorter so it will make the connection. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Take it back to the shop? By the sounds of it, your fairly new to working on cars (no offense)...if you did it yourself, then take it to a shop and have them fix it. Do you have a manuaul? Get one if you don't.
To help...get some paper towels or towels that can fit down there and use that to soak up any oil. Your spark plug tube seals may not be seated correctly. You will have to remove the VC, which I would recommend to you anyhow since.....VC job = oil leak. Since to me it sounds like VC = oil leak, because of this I would redo the job or have it redone.
BTW, did you use gasket maker on any rounded surfaces?

 

Well the VC gasket was leaking before I replaced it. The oil that is in the plug tubes is from before I replaced the plug tube seals. I just haven't pulled the plugs because I was worried about letting the oil flow into where the plugs thread into. It's not leaking anywhere around the VC gasket anymore because when I replaced it I cleaned off all the ledges and edges so if it leaked I would be able to tell where the fresh oil was coming from. I repulled the VC and rechecked the gasket and plug tube gaskets. Everything is seated properly and yes I used gasket maker on the whole gasket and the tube gaskets. I think the plugs might be fowled out because 3 out of 4 of them I can't even see any shininess on the top of the spark plugs. They are all caked with oil, so most likely they are not firing properly. The oil leak I am thinking is just bad timing since it happened right after I replaced the VC gasket and it's not leaking anymore. I think it has to the head gasket, maybe. I just can't see down that far behind the engine. Also, I went to take out the plugs and they don't want to budge because of the oil that has probably seized them up. Any ideas on how I can get the plugs out without stripping or cross threading them?