a critter had gotten in my engine compartment and chewed thru two of my spark plug wires. I have 93 lexus sc300, a six. it ran fine before this incident. the air intake was a bitch to remove but i did it. upon removing the old plugs i began to see large amounts of oil. in fact, (its a straight six)looking into the compartment where the plugs are i saw a large amount of oil. when i would remove a plug, oil was draining into the hole. I replaced the plugs anyway hoping for the best. but the car wont run, it pops and sputters and dies. any ideas? maybe remove the plugs? how can I get the oil out of there?
The oil is probably coming from leaking seals (o-rings) that are part of the valve cover gasket set. There is a seal for each spark plug tube, and when they leak the plug tubes fill with oil. When you remove the plug, the oil runs down into the cylinder.
I’m assuming you installed new spark plugs and spark plug wires, although your post doesn’t say this. Are you SURE you haven’t got two of the spark plug wires mixed up? That would cause the engine to miss. If you think the oil has fouled the new plugs, take them out, clean them and re-install them.
The oil that drained into the cylinders should be expelled quickly through the exhaust valve once you start cranking the engine, and whatever remains in the cylinder will quickly burn away when the engine starts. You may or may not see a bit of smoke from the exhaust as this oil is burned.
The leaking seals will continue to leak and fill the spark plug tubes with oil until you, or someone, installs new seals.
thanks mcparadise, Im pretty sure I got everything in the right order. the wires are marked 1 thru 6, six being the longest, and the cap has numbers where each wire goes. I cant believe all that oil got in there from a leak! bummer. maybe I’ll try to fix that when the weather warms up. I’m trying cleaning the plugs and putting them back in. my other worry god forbid is that mice have gotten into the air intake while it was opened up, and now they are stuck in there somewhere. I hope cleaning the plugs works.
You didn’t mention replacing the plug wires. Make sure they are super clean inside and out or you will get spark going eveywhere except to the plugs.
It might pay to remove the plugs again and clean them. The oil that drained into cylinders probably fouled them or bridged the plug gap
okay, so now the car is running much smoother for a few seconds at least. it goes vroom, then nothing, vroom, then nothing on and on. pressing on the gas pedal does nothing, manipulating stuff under the hood while its running has no effect. I’ll check all the things took off and put back on. still worried about mice in the air intake.
it goes vroom, then nothing, vroom, then nothing on and on. pressing on the gas pedal does nothing
Sounds like you have a bad MAF sensor or the harness is damaged(signal lines).
maf sensor? which one is that? is it one of the three sensors that I took off while removing the air intake? I’ll check the lexus club website to see if I can find a picture of this maf sensor. that reminds me of a joke, something about milf sensor. ha ha
First, you told us, a few days ago, “chipmonks ate my car!”. They had, actually, eaten some spark plug wires and a vacuum hose. Several of us advised you to get the repair manual (under $20) to help you find your way. You didnt. Now, you have more questions which that same manual would cover, and you, still, don’t have a manual. If you were in our place, would you take your valuable time to instruct someone in tasks which are amply covered by a readily available repair manual?
okay, point taken, repair manual. I’ll get one. thanks