I've got oil in my M60 spark plug area

[Unregistered]

My M60 engine which normally behaves perfectly has developed a lumpy idle recently. I decided to replace the plugs and when I got them out there was quite bit of oil around in the recesses and the rubber boots of the HT coils have a kind of charred appearence on the inside. The idle is better with the new plugs (although the ones I took out look fine) I cleaned the oil up but I guess it will return unless i cure the leak but where can it be coming from ?

[mholbrook]

You probably have fried some or all of your coils with the oil bath. Coils don't like that at all. The intake manifold profile gaskets end up leaking after time and need to be replaced. That will cure the problem with the leak but you may need some or all new coils also. Needless to say, it is a very good idea for owners of M60's to pull the coil covers off once in a while and look with a flashlight for any oil leaks.

Probably about a 3 hour process for you to change the gaskets since you have to take the intake manifold off. There are some 0-rings that need replacing if you do this as well as other minor maintenance items. Hopefully, someone more familiar will chime in and give you the shopping list of what to get.

[DaCan23]

You need to do the valve cover gaskets... not that difficult, the passenger side is a PITA cause the AC lines make it tough... doesn't require touching the intake manifold to just do the valve cover gaskets

[Unregistered]

The amount of oil was not great - certainly not enough to submerge the coils -just the spark plug end of the rubber boots. As i said my engine is running fine now but I didn't like the look of the inside of the rubbers. It looks like the oil might be attacking the rubber and I wonder what it has done to the electrical resistance of them ? Maybe some of the HT is leaking via the oily rubber ? I think i will get some new rubbers but i must stop the oil leak first. What is involved in changing the valve covr gaskets and what do I need to buy ? Thanks Allan Kennedy (sorry i didn't sign in cos the link won't work)