I changed the plugs on my 95 Eclipse GS over the weekend, and noticed something distressing.
The plugs on the two outer cylinders had oil on them, while the two center/inner plugs were dry and regular.
I know this can't be good, and really just don't want to face the fact that the engine may be screwed, the real question now is, how badly screwed it is.
What could be some possible causes for this? Whatever the cause is, is it something that can be fixed in a parkin lot, with out pulling the engine?

I always forget to do this, but I did a search just now, and found some info that was a little helpfull, but not really.
Let me be a little more specific with the problem.
The oil is not on the white insulator material that sticks out above the head, but on the metal threads, and all over the bottom of the plug.

well i would say if it was just on your threads then it could be a bad valve cover gasket and it was leaking down through that way. but if it is as bad as you say it could be bad piston rings. im not to sure about it but i had oil on mine and i had a bad piston ring on one of the cylinders so it could be bad rings. and yes anything could be done in a drive way if thats all you have and you can break a engine down completly and not have to pull the block from the car. you can just pull your head off, drop the oil pan and un bolt the rod from the crank and push the piston up through the block that way to change the rings. to check the rings though just pull the head and pore some diesel fuel in the cylinders. if the fuel goes down then you have bad rings. and it wont hurt the engine it will clean it some until you do an oil change but if you have bad rings your going to have to pull the oil pan anyways so done worry about it ***** up your engine. hope i was some help.

Easiest thing to do is get a compression test and post your results. We'll step you through this painful process after that.

Thanks for the info guys!
I will try the valve cover this weekend (It's all Ihave the money for right now, until I sell my old car, and all my RC stuff), and see how that works.
If I have to do a compression check, what kind of gear would I ned if any? I figure I might as well get it, since this is going t be my new hobby from now on. hehe

You would need a compression tester with a hose that goes down the spark plug tubes.

compression test is easy after you get the compression tester. just disconnect the coil. remove one of the plugs and screw the tester down where the plug goes. get in and turn the key over for about 5 seconds get out and check it. put plug back in and repeat for each cylinder. when i did it on my 420 they all read between 150 -160. cylinder three was only at 35 so i knew cylinder three had a bad ring.


also are you smoking at all? if you had a bad ring you would smoke like crazy especially when you hit the throttle.

Instead of pulling the coil just pull the fuse to for the fuel pump... that way you won't flood your cylindars, or get fuel in your new tester... :thumbsup:

before you pull the plugs.... go ahead and try starting it to burn any excess fuel also... just did my test yesterday and all was good.. good luck!!!

Awesome guys!
I'm going to check that out today when I get the valve cover gasket.
You know, I have to admit, it's nice to be getting back to wrenching on my own stuff, now that I have a car that IMO is worthy of actually being worked on.
Thanks once again everybody!

Man i love wrenching on my own stuff... Till something goes wrong... :/

If a GS is in your opinion worthy of being worked on then i think you'd have a happy seizure if you worked on a 4g63. Then you'd prolly quit after everything goes wrong :P

LOL!
Man, I WISH I had a GS-T or GSX! Just too much money for me right now. Maybe if I get this one up to speed, and 100%, maybe I can turn around and sell it for more than I bought it, and get a Eclipse with a 4G63T. Oh yeah. hehe

Yeah as suggested , the cam cover gasket fails quiet easily on these model engines on yur 95 leaking oil into the spark plug tubes. Also yu should change yur PCV valve , an old PCV valve can also cause high internal pressure and easily cause the cam cover gaskets to leak oil into the spark plug tubes.

+1 I didn't think of that but good point.



A lot of times you can clean a GS up real nice and sell it as a good DD for more than you bought it worth, especially if you bought it from a kid who prolly ragged on it.

Well, all new problem.....
I did the gasket, and every thing seemed to work, and then some.
I drove it for about thirty minutes after finishing it, and no problems.
Parked it, came back out about three hours later, went to the store, came back, and the thing is smoking, and pridding oil all over the place. Now there is a puddle of oil under the car! Grrrr....
I checked it out, and it was what I thought it was, the gasket around the back of the valve cover is leaking, and leaking BAD. I am not going to drive it again until tommorow, after I pull the valve cover, and inspect it all. Easy fix, I caught it quick, no damage. Just frustration.
Now this is my question, what could I have done wrong?
The I has very careful to make sure that the gasket did not get twisted, and that it was in the right place. There is not enough time today, to let the engine cool, and do another gasket, so I have time.
Any help would be great.
I actually have a lot of stuff I am going to do on it tomorrow. I sold some of my RC stuff, so I will be doing the front struts, and front brakes tomorrow. If I have the money and time, I will be doing the oil pan and oil pan gasket as well. I wish I could do all this stuff today, but there just isn't enough daylight today.

Hey dude, did you check if you put any gasket sealent ?

Naw, I didn't put any on it, and I feel like a bit of a dumdass, since I know better.
I am currently redoing it, and have about 10 minutes left for the black RTV to finish curring. Then on it goes, and I have a feeling I will be set.

I never put any type of sealant on the cam conver gaskets at all. ONlee if there are semi-circle plugs on the rear. But besides that depending on the maker of the gasket sumtimes when installing them they move out of position and it is not noticed. Putting a small amount of Grey Import sealant is always best for holding gaskets in place , put in every couple of MM spaces this will keep the gasket in place while installing it. Besides that i never put any type of sealant for the gasket , it will cause the gasket to fatigue alot earlier when yu do do this. It gives the gasket less of an expansion barrier.

i agree cause when i did my gasket a while back and drove it back home it had a puddle under it too. seems the gasket on the back side slide out of position with out me knowing it. yeah easy fix but now you gotta get more oil. its frustrating but easy. get some brake cleaner and spray it down it will get rid of all that oil pretty easy.

did you change just the outside gasket or the 4 round gaskets around the spark plug holes too?