Spark plugs covered in oil - how screwed am I?
It all started like a month ago when my Valiant (225 Slant Six, 1974 model year), misfired badly. It stalled 4 times in less than a mile of driving. I was lucky to be near home.
I've started the car like a week later again without any issues but replaced the ballast resistor because it was a bit crumbly. I've barely touched the car since but yesterday I thought I should check the spark plugs to be sure these are not the cause for the misfire and holy ****, I've never seen spark plugs to be this oily. I have removed all the spark plugs and spark plug tubes, cleaned everything (the spark plug tube seals are rock hard btw) and scratched the carbon off the electrode, just the normal work you do... I then let it run for like 5 minutes, let it cool down and the spark plugs are a little oily already again.
It has some excessive oil consumption but I thought it was a loose connection on the oil cooler to cause that but now I think it is burning the oil...
There are no weird sounds, only the famous lifter tick. No weird knocking or anything else and the idle is smooth. The valve cover is a bit wet on top but not much. Throttle response is fine and I don't hear weird noises when I rev the engine. There is no smoke coming from the exhaust. I can't say if there is a power loss because I've driven my Valiant for just around 1400 miles.
I think compression testing is the first thing to do, right? It looks like the piston rings or valve seats / valve stem seals are bad.
I've read it is possible for a valve gasket to leak into the spark plugs and causes misfires but in a Slant Six? The spark plugs are at the side of the block, not in the valve cover? This is btw the first time I work on a slant...
The spark plugs from cylinder 4 to 6 were the worst. The one on the green towel is from cylinder 6 (closest to the firewall/bulkhead).
It all started like a month ago when my Valiant (225 Slant Six, 1974 model year), misfired badly. It stalled 4 times in less than a mile of driving. I was lucky to be near home.
I've started the car like a week later again without any issues but replaced the ballast resistor because it was a bit crumbly. I've barely touched the car since but yesterday I thought I should check the spark plugs to be sure these are not the cause for the misfire and holy ****, I've never seen spark plugs to be this oily. I have removed all the spark plugs and spark plug tubes, cleaned everything (the spark plug tube seals are rock hard btw) and scratched the carbon off the electrode, just the normal work you do... I then let it run for like 5 minutes, let it cool down and the spark plugs are a little oily already again.
It has some excessive oil consumption but I thought it was a loose connection on the oil cooler to cause that but now I think it is burning the oil...
There are no weird sounds, only the famous lifter tick. No weird knocking or anything else and the idle is smooth. The valve cover is a bit wet on top but not much. Throttle response is fine and I don't hear weird noises when I rev the engine. There is no smoke coming from the exhaust. I can't say if there is a power loss because I've driven my Valiant for just around 1400 miles.
I think compression testing is the first thing to do, right? It looks like the piston rings or valve seats / valve stem seals are bad.
I've read it is possible for a valve gasket to leak into the spark plugs and causes misfires but in a Slant Six? The spark plugs are at the side of the block, not in the valve cover? This is btw the first time I work on a slant...
The spark plugs from cylinder 4 to 6 were the worst. The one on the green towel is from cylinder 6 (closest to the firewall/bulkhead).