The reason there aren't any posts about "spark plug oil seals" is that there is no such thing.

There are an oil ring and two compression rings(usually) on internal combustion engine pistons. These can fail, which would cause lots of oil in the combustion chamber. It would probably provide copious amounts of blue smoke out the tailpipe, as well as wreck the catalytic converter I bet.

There are also four valves that have oil seals around them. The exhaust valves can pretty much be ignored, since they see positive pressure when they are open, so oil wouldn't leak into the cylinder from them. The intake valves see suction only, so they could very well be leaking oil into the cylinder. Again, you'd see smoke.

There could also potentially be a leak of oil into the intake manifold, but it would affect more than one cylinder.

I'd suggest a compression test to see if the cylinder is low, and repeat your examination of the plugs in a month or two.

 

The link below will take you to the diagram of the part you need, looks like it is a $2.00 part, most likely no need to order it on the Internet (how much mark up can the dealer put on a $2.00 part?), just get it through your local dealer. Note: It is part #5, click on the #5 in the diagram and that will produce the part number for you.

http://www.slhondaparts.com/browse....++|CYLINDER+HEAD+COVER&Doors=5&Emissions=KA&PartCatalogId=14S0X0&ViewParts=true

You will need to remove the valve cover to replace the gasket. Lots of luck, Russ

 

Oh right, the oil seal for the spark plug shaft itself. Doh!

I was interpreting the ring of oil as being in the combustion chamber end. I actually changed those oil seals on my Integra, too!

 

Well, I don't think that the o-ring is bad. I don't have oil on the outside of the plug or in the coil pack hole. The oil is located on the metal ring that has the electrode. I am guessing I have some blowby going on and possibly the ring packs need cleaned.

I am currently using Auto-RX to help clean the ring pack and the motor in general. I will continue to check them on a regular basis.

Anyone else have any issues with blowby?

 

Coop, on engines with deep set plug wells, it's common to find some oil in there once the engine gets some age/miles on it. Often the oil will track up the plug once you start un-threading it. You won't find 'wet' oil on a plug that is firing in a modern engine like this. Honda does use a decent looking tube seal. Most are at best an O-ring or just a bead of RTV sealant. I've never heard of enough oil in a plug well to short out the ignition for that cylinder. Usually you'll just notice a slight oil burning smell after a hywy run, etc. One thing you'll want to check is; Make sure your PCV system is nice and clean. Keeping crancase pressure as low as possible will keep things like this from leaking.

Joel

 

You beat me to it. If theres a little oil in the bottom of the sparkplug tube, it'll get on the end of the plug as the plug is removed, so it may appear that the oil was actually in the combustion chamber.