I have a 4 cylinder Camry that is getting oil in one of the spark plug holes. Question...is it the head gasket or or is it the piston rings and all that good stuff?

I don't know if Toyota made a hemi head engine for that car. If plugs are on top it's a hemi. If plugs are just on the front it's a wedge engine. Wish I could just look at this but here are some tricks to try.

* Pull that plug wire and get the oil out with paper towels - Leave the plug in. If you can get rid of oily rags or whatever - burn them if you can safely.

* Check torque of valve cover. It's probably 10mm bolts and tighten to a reasonable "screwdriver" tight. Don't go overboard - too tight can break things and cause leaks!! Use a nut driver type tool - it's hands for this. If they seem ok.....

* You may just need a valve cover gasket. A Hemi head gasket set should come with seals for the plugs to keep oil out. They should be in the package for this.

* Another important test is that the engine crankcase has about 1hg of vacuum - that the PCV system makes happen. You can check this a couple ways. A vacuum gauge on the dipstick tube - safest. Or with a slightly warm engine (before cooling fans come on or when they are off - turn off defrost and A/C) hold a lit cigarette over that dipstick tube and see the smoke - it should go down the tube. An incense stick would work too or just give someone a quarter for a cigarette if you don't smoke. (Creative auto diagnostics!!)

** If it won't suck down smoke or has no vacuum, then the PCV valve and that system should be checked. If it's full of sludge and you haven't cared for the car that's NOT good. Other causes are the valve cover gasket, bad oil cap, leaking oil pan gasket or a worn engine with more blow-by the rings than the PCV system can overcome. If this is true is the beginning of the end of that engine if proven so. Depending on how bad if so you might still get a long time out of it.

Hope that gets you fixed up, - T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/

Tom,

I wish I could send you some pictures, but the Camry has four tubes that appear to go down to where the head is and the spark plugs go down into the tubes and then you tighten the plugs. These tubes also help to hold the valve cover gasket in place and also help to hold the valve cover down. On the top of these tubes are nuts, you have to use a 31MM socket to tighten or loosen these nuts. I know that it is not my head gasket because there is no coolant in the oil, just the oil in the one tube where the spark plug, and spark plug boot are. I hope this makes sense.


(This post was edited by piman02 on Nov 13, 2005, 6:47 PM)

Doesn't really matter what type of cylinder head. The valve cover job is basically the same if you want to do that. Wish I could take one look at this engine and I'd know what you should do. If you want just get the oil out for now and see how long it takes to return.

If it's running well just check some of the things I mentioned in my last post on this. Don't remove the spark plug without getting most of the oil out if you need to. I'm a bit confused what the 31mm stuff is right now.
FYI: The valve cover gasket should be pretty cheap. Cleaning of the surfaces is important if you do this and be gentle on aluminum/alloy parts to no gouge them with any gasket scraper if needed at all.

Is this car in good shape or what condition would you call it. How far do you want to go with this. I don't think any of your problems are big $ at this point. - T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/

Yes, the car is in very good shape for a 93, and the car has 179,000 miles on it. The car has been taken care of and so forth. The 31MM socket is for the nuts that you tighten to hold the valve cover down, or loosen to remove the valve cover. These nuts are located at the top of the tubes, and valve cover where the spark plugs go down into. Do you have a regular e-mail so I can send you a picture of what I am talking about?

Sure - TEFeuilleVerte@Comcast.net which is also early in the memberlist here and I've left it there too. I may be able to see what you are talking about by looking at a 99 Camry four but I think they changed some things. 93 was a change year for a lot of things in cars. It makes it tricky. Some were built in 92 and some later in 93.

I cut my work down to a minimum in 93 so I didn't buy more tools books etc. For the most part cars are still using the same basics for decades. If you can send a pic it would help. If you can just send the pic without tricks as I'm NOT a computer geek. I depend on a neighbor for all my IT needs which is well set up but I struggle with some stuff.

In general it's best to stay on the site as many techs will see your questions. Check out the products available too. If you do your own work and need some stuff worth some $$ you do help a site that offers use of the forum for free. Many places/states don't sales tax mail ordered goods so it's worth checking out. I think it's the way of the future. Small cheap parts are impractical to mail order. FYI - I don't make a dime from this!! - T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/