[fxi_08]

Does anyone know what kind of leak would cause oil to be all over my spark plugs? I'm misfiring in cylinders 5 and 6, went to swap the coils and plugs to see if I had a bad plug. Found out all 6 plugs are covered in oil and have oil dripping off of them. Hoping it may be a simple gasket or seal

E92 2008 328xi

[MrN1ceGuy]

valve cover gasket?

[TheTallJS]

torqued to spec? 28nm ish
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174217

[rhombus]

Originally Posted by Fonzie95

Does anyone know what kind of leak would cause oil to be all over my spark plugs? I'm misfiring in cylinders 5 and 6, went to swap the coils and plugs to see if I had a bad plug. Found out all 6 plugs are covered in oil and have oil dripping off of them. Hoping it may be a simple gasket or seal

E92 2008 328xi

I normally see oil in the spark plug valley due to oil spilling down from the oil cap when filling the engine. In my case, I also had a leaking oil cap gasket. When corning hard left, the oil would drip down the valve cover and onto the header. I did not see oil in the back cylinders though but anything is possible.

Its known that some people have had the aluminum valve cover (painted blue on the top bolts break. This can cause the valve cover gasket to leak.

Id also check your valvetronic actuator to see if its leaking there.

[fxi_08]

Originally Posted by rhombus

I normally see oil in the spark plug valley due to oil spilling down from the oil cap when filling the engine. In my case, I also had a leaking oil cap gasket. When corning hard left, the oil would drip down the valve cover and onto the header. I did not see oil in the back cylinders though but anything is possible.

Its known that some people have had the aluminum valve cover (painted blue on the top bolts break. This can cause the valve cover gasket to leak.

Id also check your valvetronic actuator to see if its leaking there.

Unfortunately it's not just in the valley, it seems to be in the combustion chamber as well, when I remove the plugs the bottoms are soaked in oil, there is only a small amount on the top of the actual plug when it's screwed in

[fxi_08]

Originally Posted by TheTallJS

torqued to spec? 28nm ish
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174217

They were installed by BMW, so I would assume they are torqued correctly, but never know

[rhombus]

Originally Posted by Fonzie95

Unfortunately it's not just in the valley, it seems to be in the combustion chamber as well, when I remove the plugs the bottoms are soaked in oil, there is only a small amount on the top of the actual plug when it's screwed in

If the bottom of the valley is full of oil and you remove the spark plug, the oil will drain into the spark plug hole as you take the plug out and will also get all over the bottom of the spark plug. The top of the plug is protected from getting oil on it by the coil pack.

If you have oil getting in your combustion chamber to the point that you see it on the plugs the car would be smoking like a coal train. Was the oil on the plug burnt or just wet?

[fxi_08]

Originally Posted by rhombus

If the bottom of the valley is full of oil and you remove the spark plug, the oil will drain into the spark plug hole as you take the plug out and will also get all over the bottom of the spark plug. The top of the plug is protected from getting oil on it by the coil pack.

If you have oil getting in your combustion chamber to the point that you see it on the plugs the car would be smoking like a coal train. Was the oil on the plug burnt or just wet?

There wasn't much on top of the plugs, a lot underneath, some was burnt and a lot wasn't

[fravel]

If all 6 cylinders have oil in them I'm inclined to say valve cover gasket and not just spillage from filling oil.

[fxi_08]

Originally Posted by fravel

If all 6 cylinders have oil in them I'm inclined to say valve cover gasket and not just spillage from filling oil.

Yes all 6 have oil, also switched my plugs and coils from the misfiring 5&6 and moved them to 1&2, now the car is misfiring in 1&2 so I'm dropping my car off tomorrow to have it checked out, hopefully it's nothing too serious