Alright,

On the drivers side, I finally got around to pulling the plugs. I had oil DRIPPING off the plugs, all on the back side, top, the plug side of the wire was coated in oil, and it was dripping off. The ends of the plug (where the spark fires) looks clean, and doesnt look like a problem, but the threads/rest of the plug was coated in oil. The front drivers side was the worst, followed by the one right behind it. The plugs were not fouled besides all this oil.

The passenger side plugs looked fine.

If I leave the car running for 15 minutes, I get a little bit of oil residue only on the drivers side exhaust (I have true dual exhaust).

Does this seem to suggest any particular issue? If the plugs were oil coated on the tips and fouled, that would be one thing, but since they weren't, I'm a little thrown off. actually leaning towards a valve cover seal? But that doesnt explain the oil in the exhaust?

Engine runs fine, although I noted in the highway that 3 out of the 8 fires was barely noticable, 1 worse than the other 2. Not enough to raise any red flags if I didn't have the other items of issue however.

Thanks for your thoughts. I will try to post pics later tonight if anyone thinks it will help?

 

well frist how is your plenum gasket?

 

oil on the outside that high up on the engine is valve cover gaskets. Possibly being contributed to by a malfunctioning PCV system. (plugged valve.)

 

To piggyback on Hey You, when was the last time the torque was checked on the valve cover bolts? I check mine every oil service.

 

what Hey said.
try tightening valve cover bolts, that might fix it. if not, replace gasket with the good rubber felpro.

 

Thanks for the thoughts. Thats good to know...For this last weekend I originally had The project list:

Plenum gasket and reinforcement fix
Valve cover gaskets replacement
Timing set
Water pump
And all the little things that go with each of those.

I postponed the "project" because of what I was finding with the plugs and exhaust. It sounds like the original project is still what I needed however, so I guess I will reschedule it over the next few weeks.

I'll also retorque the valve covers, but with the plenum and stuff coming off, it makes sense just to get them replaced while I'm at it if I'm suspecting issues with them.

Side note, I did replace the PCV about 2k miles ago when I did the 120k service. I might as well just replace it again, but is there any other areas I should look out for with the PCV system?

Thanks!

 

Valve is the weak point of the system. Make sure you use a unit from the dealership. Aftermarket versions don't always have the correct flow rate, and can suck just as much oil into the intake as a blown plenum gasket does.

 

Now you tell me Mine is still chugging oil even though I've cured that annoying leak.

 

I learned this one the "hard way" too....