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E36General discussion and technical help for (E36) 1992-1999 3 series cars. 318, 323, 325, 328.
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Your Ride: 1995 E36 M50 I6
Oil covering spark plug - help!
I own a 1995 E36 M50TU I6 Saloon wit sports package which I purchased new. Recently retired it from daily driver service and am now upgrading to a muscular gentlemans sports car. Just replaced the spark plugs and did a compression check, good new is the compression is great, bad news is on a couple of cylinders oil was found around spark plug. On one of the cylinders, the chase going down to the spark plug was half full of engine oil that completely covered the spark plug. This can't be good for the coil setup.
Normally, I would just take it to the BMW dealership and be done with it. However, since retiring the car I've decided to do my own upgrades and mechanical work as a hobby. Anybody have a similiar problem and a repair solution to share?
Not to worry, common occurence. You need to replace your valve cover gaskets. It's a 3 piece gasket set, two of which seal the chase holes. Despite the oil, the coils typically still fire no problem, believe it or not.
Here's a good writeup on how to replace the gaskets:
Location: SW corner of CO, live in country near village called Mancos
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Your Ride: 1992 325i & 2004 325xi
If oil is on outside of plug or in well, then usual cause is leaky valve cover gasket. This is a typical problem with M50 onwards. It is easy and quick to remedy. Bavauto has a tech sheet showing how. Gasket is cheap. If your engine has individual coils, one for each cyl., the oil can cause coil to fail.
03-25-2007, 12:49 PM
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