Valve cover gasket replaced, oil leaked out

[ThosL]

I changed my oil last week and started in on my valve cover gasket replacement today.  When the bolts loosened as I was removing the cover, some old oil leaked out probably 8-10 oz or more.  Not sure what that means; possibly a previous overfilling where extra oil was pushed up in there? The outside of the plug wires previously had a lot of oil on them, why I decided to change the valve covers, etc..  I don't know how this would have happened.  Also there was some milky residue on the inside of the cover though I don't have any head gasket issues.

Going with Denso Platinum plugs, I assume these are as good as the NGKs?  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVYN3N4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by ThosL

[el_freddo]

What model Subaru are we talking? 

I don’t know how much that imperial liquid quantity is in metric terms, but it’s normal for some oil to come out when you remove a cam cover. 

Having the vehicle situated with the cam cover facing up an incline will help reduce this oil loss. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[ThosL]

2 hours ago, el_freddo said:

What model Subaru are we talking? 

I don’t know how much that imperial liquid quantity is in metric terms, but it’s normal for some oil to come out when you remove a cam cover. 

Having the vehicle situated with the cam cover facing up an incline will help reduce this oil loss. 

Cheers 

Bennie

2002 Forester.  It was old oil, I changed it out last week so it must have been in there sitting.

[lmdew]

copper core NGK plugs are all that's needed.  Subaru or NGK wires and standard NGK copper core plugs.

[idosubaru]

Oil is normal in an engine. It’s spraying everywhere and coating interior copiously and sitting in locally low spots in the engine.

Milky, probably short trips.  or initial headgasket you don’t know about yet.

Use standard issue OEM plugs. No need for platinum or specialty 

[heartless]

10 hours ago, ThosL said:

Going with Denso Platinum plugs, I assume these are as good as the NGKs?  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVYN3N4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

NO!! use the standard NGK copper core plugs.

there is absolutely zero reason to use those overpriced plugs.\

 

Also... buy your plugs locally.. no reason to buy on Amazon when you can get them at any parts place.

Edited March 22, 2023 by heartless

[ThosL]

Some curved balls on this job which I did not anticipate checked out some Youtube videos.  One was the difficulty of accessing the bolt on the valve cover lower one toward back on driver's side.  Also after putting the driver's side back together was getting oil burning smoke, so I took it all apart again thinking that the valve cover was not evenly snug.   After that no real problems after running it a while.

[idosubaru]

4 hours ago, ThosL said:

Some curved balls on this job which I did not anticipate checked out some Youtube videos.  One was the difficulty of accessing the bolt on the valve cover lower one toward back on driver's side.  Also after putting the driver's side back together was getting oil burning smoke, so I took it all apart again thinking that the valve cover was not evenly snug.   After that no real problems after running it a while.

10mm ratcheting wrench for those lower rear bolts. Game changer for those two bolts. A short enough height ratchet and socket can work but much more annoying. 

[ThosL]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:29 AM, heartless said:

NO!! use the standard NGK copper core plugs.

there is absolutely zero reason to use those overpriced plugs.\

 

Also... buy your plugs locally.. no reason to buy on Amazon when you can get them at any parts place.

I'm learning the reason behind your pointers the hard way.  I pulled one of the plugs the other day to check the gap of the Denso plugs and found it had fouled out, but I kept my NGKs so will put those back in.

Some of us like me don't respond well to authoritative statements, such as "No!" or "Never do that!!!" without hearing the reasons behind it.  Many years of getting bad advice I guess.

 

Also there's oil in the plug holes even after the valve cover gasket change out and I thought I was not overfilling.

[el_freddo]

When you replaced the cam cover gaskets did you replace the spark plug tube gaskets at the same time? 

If not, your old ones in there are hard and leaking. Pretty common. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[ThosL]

10 hours ago, el_freddo said:

When you replaced the cam cover gaskets did you replace the spark plug tube gaskets at the same time? 

If not, your old ones in there are hard and leaking. Pretty common. 

Cheers 

Bennie

Yes, that's part of the job, inserted new rubber gaskets.  Still oil is getting into the plug wire compartments.

[el_freddo]

4 hours ago, ThosL said:

Yes, that's part of the job, inserted new rubber gaskets.  Still oil is getting into the plug wire compartments.

Good to hear that these were replaced. When buying genuine cam cover seals I’ve always needed to order the spark plug tube grommets separately. 

Next question: how did you clean out all the oil that was in there from before the grommets were replaced? Not an easy task! I had my engine on the floor when I did this and I still found it difficult!  

I used some torn down rags made into strips, shoved these in and twisted them around the spark plug as much as possible using a long screw driver, then did it again with a fresh rag strip until I was confident the tube was pretty clean. Then I removed the spark plug and used a fatter rag strip to clean out any last bits. I could’ve used some Metho at this point to give it a thorough clean but I don’t recall doing that. 

The results? Well the project is still sitting there waiting to be finished off and used so I can’t report on it yet. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[heartless]

On 6/11/2023 at 12:35 PM, ThosL said:

I'm learning the reason behind your pointers the hard way.  I pulled one of the plugs the other day to check the gap of the Denso plugs and found it had fouled out, but I kept my NGKs so will put those back in.

Some of us like me don't respond well to authoritative statements, such as "No!" or "Never do that!!!" without hearing the reasons behind it.  Many years of getting bad advice I guess.

 

Also there's oil in the plug holes even after the valve cover gasket change out and I thought I was not overfilling.

do your homework, check the forums, pretty much everyone will tell you NGK copper core plugs - including your owners manual.

this is from the 2002 Forester owners manual (i used to own one)... Dont see Denso Platinum listed here... and honestly, i would not use the Champions either.. not on a Subaru.

[ThosL]

On 6/12/2023 at 9:48 AM, el_freddo said:

Good to hear that these were replaced. When buying genuine cam cover seals I’ve always needed to order the spark plug tube grommets separately. 

Next question: how did you clean out all the oil that was in there from before the grommets were replaced? Not an easy task! I had my engine on the floor when I did this and I still found it difficult!  

I used some torn down rags made into strips, shoved these in and twisted them around the spark plug as much as possible using a long screw driver, then did it again with a fresh rag strip until I was confident the tube was pretty clean. Then I removed the spark plug and used a fatter rag strip to clean out any last bits. I could’ve used some Metho at this point to give it a thorough clean but I don’t recall doing that. 

The results? Well the project is still sitting there waiting to be finished off and used so I can’t report on it yet. 

Cheers 

Bennie

You are obviously a very thorough mechanic.   

Yesterday I was trying to get out the last remaining spark plug, driver's side furthest in out.   I will need to get a spark plug wrench easy out as the previous owner stripped it out and I have not gotten around to it yet.

[el_freddo]

11 minutes ago, ThosL said:

You are obviously a very thorough mechanic

Thanks for the complement. I’m not much more than a backyard mechanic as I like to do things myself. I might go a bit further than some though - and thus I share what I’ve learnt/found along the way  

All the best with that spark plug, it sounds nasty! 

Cheers 

Bennie

[ThosL]

It's the external shaft of the spark plug that is stripped, so not a big job.

[ThosL]

I finally got the spark plug out nearest to driver.  Strange and unexpected, I still don't know why it was such a tough hurdle.  I used an extractor sharp edge type spark plug socket, had to hammer it in.  A lot of debris was also in the plug wires area so I ran the car for a couple seconds with that plug hole open so any remaining debris would be blown out.