Oil in spark plug well and rev counter stopped working?

Mango Joe

Hi all,

Engine is Toyota Avensis Verso, 2 litre petrol vvti, 2002. 1AZ-FE

A bit worried and depressed here, changed my plugs there a few mins ago and noticed minor traces of oil in spark plug wells, but in cyclinder 3 quite a bit

It's failed emissions in the NCT recently despite getting a new cat fitted so guessing now it's burning of some of this oil..... (?) Oil was on ceramic body of plug mainly from what it could tell.....

Ploughed on and finished the job anyhow, started OK, idles a bit rough but noticed the rev counter has just now stopped working? It's stuck right up at the top a cm past the highest rev reading.... What would cause this? Rechecked all my work and looked for loose connections etc but is still the same?

Hoping that in short term oil burns off and engine settles, I'd say it's been like this for a long time and the plugs change introduced extra oil into the equation - from researching I think there a possibility that I can replace the four seals at top of engine around plug wells and the head cover gasket (sorry sketchy on details)

PS from reading online, the other possibility is rings, BUT the engine has loads of power, drives well and starts without any issue always..... So am hoping for the simple cheap effective fix!

Anyhow, thanks for reading, any help and advice would be much appreciated as this is the family workhorse, so am very worried we may be in trouble

PS hoping to NCT this and get another year of two out of her, especially after spending money already on new cat replacement etc......

corks finest

Mango Joe wrote: »

Hi all,

Engine is Toyota Avensis Verso, 2 litre petrol vvti, 2002. 1AZ-FE

A bit worried and depressed here, changed my plugs there a few mins ago and noticed minor traces of oil in spark plug wells, but in cyclinder 3 quite a bit

It's failed emissions in the NCT recently despite getting a new cat fitted so guessing now it's burning of some of this oil..... (?) Oil was on ceramic body of plug mainly from what it could tell.....

Ploughed on and finished the job anyhow, started OK, idles a bit rough but noticed the rev counter has just now stopped working? It's stuck right up at the top a cm past the highest rev reading.... What would cause this? Rechecked all my work and looked for loose connections etc but is still the same?

Hoping that in short term oil burns off and engine settles, I'd say it's been like this for a long time and the plugs change introduced extra oil into the equation - from researching I think there a possibility that I can replace the four seals at top of engine around plug wells and the head cover gasket (sorry sketchy on details)

PS from reading online, the other possibility is rings, BUT the engine has loads of power, drives well and starts without any issue always..... So am hoping for the simple cheap effective fix!

Anyhow, thanks for reading, any help and advice would be much appreciated as this is the family workhorse, so am very worried we may be in trouble

PS hoping to NCT this and get another year of two out of her, especially after spending money already on new cat replacement etc......

On reflection, an older car I had with similar problem, but I was in trouble ,something to do with head gasket blown, hope I'm wrong buddy, cars seem to mess up when the pocket is empty,very best with it,hope some more mechanical minded person can give u a more accurate answer

case_sensitive

I had oil in the plug sockets of both my Puma and Focus. In both cases it was a rocker cover gasket rather than a head gasket. It's just a rubber seal that sits between the rocket cover (cam cover) and the top of the head. If so, it shouldn't cost more than €30, and should be doable yourself in an hour or so.







Gave it a clean





It's been clean since

case_sensitive

If you're worried about the rings, get a compression test done; if you're adventurous you could buy a tester for €35-50 and do it yourself. If it passes, the pistons are most likely fine.