oil on spark plug

I found oil on one spark plug - none of the others had any on them.Where
would the oil be coming from? Big repair bill?? Hope not--thanks for any
help or comments...

 

Before you panic or spend lots of money--wait about one week and remove
that spark plug and see if you see more oil on the plug. It's possible
that the oil was left over from a prior oil change. If this is true, it's
my guess that you won't see oil on the plug. On the other hand, if you see
oil on that plug once a week for a month--repost and we can tell you the
possible causes.

 

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No need to mention the model or year or mileage . . . Just do a search
of this group and you'll find MANY recent explanations of this very
common Honda problem. (It's nothing to do with sloppy oil changes, BTW)

'Curly'

 

Where was the oil? On the electrode in the combustion chamber? Or was
it on the top of the plug where the spark plug wire connects to it? If
the latter scenario is the case, then it's probably the spark plug tube
seals at the valve cover. These dry up and get compressed over time and
then fail to seal. Try replacing these first and clean up any oil.
Recheck the plugs after a week or two. If there's still oil, then you
may need the lower spark plug tube seals. These lower seals go between
the cam towers and the cylinder head. If you wind up replacing these,
then you should probably put in a new cam seal as well. Check the
factory service manual for the proper torque specs on the cam tower
bolts. It's also helpful to back off the valve adjustment screws until
they're flush with the bottom of the rocker arms. This helps prevent
the screws from catching on the top of the valve stems and bending a
valve when you're putting the rocker arm assembly back on the head.

Eric

 

Sorry I failed to mention mileage (98000) and year (97) CR-V. The oil in
on the threads, not where the plug wire attaches. thanks

 

Oil was on the threads on only one plug, not on top of plug. Thanks for
response.

 

It's definitely the valve cover spark plug tube seals. Go to autozone and
the whole valve cover gasket replacement set should only cost you around
$30-$40. You can probably install it yourself to because there's not much to
it. No gasket sealer goop is required with a Felpro gasket set.

-jeff

 

On 2nd thought that's a CRV engine which is like the acura integra engine so
you may need to use gasket sealer at certain spots in the head. I'm not
sure. Look into that.