Can someone help, my truck started idling badly and the check ingine light came on. The spark plugs were just changed before i bought it, but the wires were not. I changed the wires and the problem was still there. When I checked spark plug #4 the one on the left far back, it had oil all over it and in the hold. What is the problem and and is it serious.

 

On my 1999 Ford F150 5.4L engine I sometimes did not use a funnel and oil spilled over. The rubber boot of the cop did not prevent the oil from seeping into the spark plug well.

What year and displacement is your engine?

 

It is a 98 F150 4.6, I don't see how oil can leak that far back from adding oil.

 

Actually, the #4 (Back row in picture, rightmost plug) on my truck suffered from dripping antifreeze from a hose connection on the firewall which caused two of my cops (coil on plug) for the #4 cylinder to fail. The (Back row in picture, 2nd from right has a slight brown watermark or oilmark in this case from oil that got into the plug well.) The oil was not deep enough to cause my engine to miss. Are you positive yours is oil?



Another possibility is that mine was actually transmission fluid. I remember putting in the fluid with the engine running and I think it was a real windy day. Transmission fluid was blowing all over the passenger side of my engine as I remember. See the yellow transmission dipstick on my truck in this picture.

 

Could it be the seals as shown in the image?

 

Looks like it could be possible...

check out this link about using a blacklight and dye ...

http://experts.about.com/q/Ford-780/...alve-Cover.htm

 

+1 thats what ur problem is if there is oil on the plugs.

 

Here's what I think is most plausible: Wires weren't changed, therefore there was a misfire on cyl #4. No rings on any piston completely stop all the oil from getting into the combustion chamber. So what results is oil fouling of the plug. As for the the oil in the plug well, #4 plug is notoriously hard to get to and change, and since you said that someone else changed the plugs before you got it, they might have not gotten the plug completely tight, and oil leaked by it into the well.

 

What do you mean By "a misfire on cyl #4. No rings on any piston completely stop all the oil from getting into the combustion chamber" and can the problem be fixed. Thanks for your response.

 

no... unless u want to replace the rings. or redesign pistons...