large oil leak around spark plugs

[Nimbus]

My 2 has been misfiring for ages, ( weekend car ), and gradually getting worse over the summer..

Anyhow I had a look at the plugs, and the two leftmost are absolutely soaking in oil....

I've had the centre cover off, and there is about a cm of oil in the area around the plugs, ( you can see in the picture below..).

Now I reckon if I mop the oil up, and clean the plugs, it should all be fine again, but for how long ??

I'm guessing the oil is getting past the seal in between the plugs from somewhere ?
Is this serious ?
How can I fix it ? indeed do I need to ?
And as a side note, can I run safely without the cover over the sparkplugs ? Well, assuming I dont get it wet...

cheers guys,
Toby

[RedWitch]

I found this problem just a couple of days ago - it turned out that the rocker cover gaskets were $hagged, allowing oil into the plug sockets.

I removed the rocker covers, bought new nuts, washers and gaskets, cleaned and painted the covers, fitted new plugs and.......problem solved!

Please PM me if you need part numbers.

[Nimbus]

I found this problem just a couple of days ago - it turned out that the rocker cover gaskets were $hagged, allowing oil into the plug sockets.

I removed the rocker covers, bought new nuts, washers and gaskets, cleaned and painted the covers, fitted new plugs and.......problem solved!

Please PM me if you need part numbers.

Ahh, great stuff, that makes perfect sense, oil leaking down rather than up

Could you post the part numbers here, in case anyone else gets the problem in the future ?
Was it pricey ?

I'm not very mechanical, so... do the rocker covers need to be bolted back on at a certain torque ? Or can I get away with just reasonable tight ?

thanks again

Toby

[RedWitch]

bu88er it, can't find the invoice for the part numbers....

Anyway, you will need

1 gasket set, 2 gaskets (about £7)

8 x nuts and washers (about £20)

Don't think there is a torque setting, just TAF, mine is fine now.

[Nimbus]

bu88er it, can't find the invoice for the part numbers....

Anyway, you will need

1 gasket set, 2 gaskets (about £7)

8 x nuts and washers (about £20)

Don't think there is a torque setting, just TAF, mine is fine now.

hehe, thanks for looking
not a horrendous cost then, phew !!

will I have to get the parts from a dealer, or is there somewhere online I can get them ? Hehe, havent done any real work on a car in years, my 2 is my weekend go kart

[RedWitch]

You'll need to go to Mr T for the parts Toby....those prices include a 10% discount with my TOC gold members card.

I've only had my Mk1 a couple of weeks, all this dirty hands work takes me back 20 years

[Nimbus]

You'll need to go to Mr T for the parts Toby....those prices include a 10% discount with my TOC gold members card.

I've only had my Mk1 a couple of weeks, all this dirty hands work takes me back 20 years

ahh.. ok, job for Monday lunchtime then

thanks for the help, I'll let you know how it goes

[kevin..in]

Don't think there is a torque setting, just TAF, mine is fine now.

the torque for the cam covers is 9ft-lb 13Nm I hope TAF doesn't mean Tight As F..k