No more than 48 hours ago on my way to work, my car rammed into itself into a lower gear and the RPMs went ridiculously low (difficult to get it over 2500 RPMs). Felt like my horsepower was cut in half. When I got to work, I noticed the wires had popped up a bit, but I couldn't push it back down until the engine was off. It easily went into place.

I had checked to see if the plugs were any good, and if the threading was good, which there were, but 2 of them were sitting in a puddle of oil. So, if I researched correctly, my car is running crappy because the plugs are sitting in oil preventing 2 of the cylinders from firing. I'm replacing the wires and the plugs, probably going to change the oil and air filter, replaces the valve gaskets/sealants on the plugs. But, until my parts come in, what's a temporary hold up to keep the oil from seeping onto the plugs? How can I clean that oil out from the sockets?

Another quick question. Same time the happened, my speedometer went wacky. Speed sensor or cluster? (It still moves, but can't seem to keep up with what's actually going on. It pulsates and throbs but sometimes freezes wherever also)

 

Not sure of any temp fixes for the tube seals....clean the oil out with a rag the best you can and hope it is a small/slow leak.

Check for any stored codes, usually a bad vss will set at least a CEL code, many times will also set a TCU (D4) cose...asuming an auto trans.

 

Oil in plug tubes rarely causes missing. I've had this problem on several cars and never had a miss related to oil.

I removed oil w/ a air compressor-driven vacuum line to suck the oil out.

I'm pretty sure the LX model engines have a second set of plug tube seals (orings) underneath the valve train rocker arm assys. So if set of upper tube seals doesn't fix the problem, you'll need to replace the orings underneath the rocker arm assys.

good luck

 

I'm guessing the oil on the wires has caused them to come loose.......the OP said that two of the wires had "popped up" from the valve cover. Oil on the rubber, a little heat and a bit of time and the rubber end of the wires to swell????? If they poped off the plug then a a miss in the engine would be from that.

OP- you might want to get a set of new wires if the oil has caused them to swell in size.

 

Yeah, I'm picking up a nice set tomorrow. My car is 30mi from home at the moment so I need to figure out a temp fix or something to get it home so I can actually work on it. I heard that when oil is inside the plugs it means a head gasket/piston is shot? How likely is this? They can't just snap like that with no warning (does not make funny noises, never did, just feels weak)?

 

Oil inside the combustion chamber will only be on the tip of the sparkplug. The part with the electrode gap is inside the combustion chamber. Oil from the rings will be burned by combustion, so it's more like oily crud BELOW the threads of the sparkplug.

Leaky seals (part of the valvecover gasket set) will put a puddle of oil down in the hole where the spark plug sits. The oil will be above the threads of the sparkplug. If it's a BIG puddle, some will get on the firing tip as you remove the plug. It'll look more like clean oil, not so much like burned oily crud.

 

What you have is bad spark plug tube seals...engine is fine.

As TX stated, a new valve cover gasket set is all you need. It comes with the valve cover gasket and 8 "tube seals". As he stated, try the "upper seals" and vc gasket first. If the oil comes back then you will need to do the lower seals.....doing those is a bit more involved than just the uppers.

Me, with the new wires and plugs in hand. Clean the oil out of the tubes as best as you can....rags or whatever you can. Pull the plugs, install the new ones. Try the old wires, if they seat....try getting home. If they do not seat then install the new wires and get it home. Once home, inspect the tubes for how much "new oil" is in there?

EDIT: I see Jim posted as I was typing

 

Yes, if the oil gets high enough in the tubes, the plugs will start to misfire. The spark plug wires can probably be reused after cleaning them with carb cleaner. I would rather clean and reuse the stock plug wires, than use some cheap aftermarket wires from Autozone etc.

 

Thank you everyone, you all put great ease on my mind!! Seriously though, you did! I still gotta get it home somehow though, I don't have a vacumm like TX had said to do. Suggestions to get out the oil for a 30mi drive?

 

A rag on a stick? Put a rag down there & push it around with a stick to soak up the oil. Have enough of the rag so you can grab it & pull it back out.

If the spark shorted across the oil, it might have damaged the porcelain of the spark plugs. New plugs (even if they only last a day) are probably cheaper than a tow.

Sometimes the rubber gets swelled up from the oil and will not ever go back to normal. Sometimes.

If the plug wires are permanently damaged, think about genuine plug wires. They seem to last forever.