Oil in spark plug chamber 3sfe

[dundee230966]

Could some one give me a clue how ,the heck that oil would be getting into the spark plug chamber on a 3sfe motor please. The plug is tight as well. Cheers people.

[Dale]

Cam cover gasket probably has spark plug tube seals for each plug, one of these would be leaking.

The other option is the spark plug lead isn't sealing properly on this (seen this happen on a 4afe which has a similar cam cover design.

[dundee230966]

Ok then, so I will take the cover off and all should be revealed.... am a little lost on these front wheel drive cars.... I like my 18r a whole lot better, easy as heck to work on and easy to see problems too. Thanks mate.

[Dale]

How much is it actually leaking?

You might be able to just run some sealant around the edges of the spark plug tubes to make it seal again

fwd cars seem like a bit of a handful at first, but after a while they aren't too much harder to work on or diagnose things with

[Bananaman]

Can have the same problem with any twin cam engine like this, i had issues with this on my 2tg, mate had same on his 3sfe as well.

Try clean it all up first, and sealing it like dale said. Failing that, take off cam cover, replace or reseal / realign the gasket, and put it back on.

[dundee230966]

Good idea captin. What will be the fun thing is getting the blasted plug out. I just cant seem to get the plug socket to catch the plug. The other 3 no problems at all. As usual it is always the last one. I like murphys blasted law. There must be some thing at the base of the chamber that is stopping the plug spanner from going all the way down. Hopefully a blast of 120 psi of air will help. There was a little in number 3 but only a smear of oil.

[dundee230966]

There is like a big nut on the top of each plug hole, If I undo that will that lead me to the gasket that you are talking about?

[AndyTTR]

yep, those big nuts hold the cam cover on. The gaskets go between the spark plug tube and the cover.

[ajh]

I had the same problem on our 3sfe.

As mentioned, undo those 4 big nuts, the rocker cover will then come off.
(may require a bit of effort to pry it from the top of the head)

I had to buy the rocker cover gasket and the 4 plug tube seals seperately. ( about $40 I think)

You don't actually need to remove the spark plugs, but if you're changing them, undo them using a spark plug socket as they have a rubber grommet that grabs the top of the plug so you can take the plug up the tube easily.

When you put the new gasket on, the w/s manual says to put a blob of gasket silicone in the corners at either end of the camshaft bearing caps are.

Put the rocker cover back on and tighten those big nuts equally.

[2jzhilux]

they will be leaking where your spark plug tubes screw into your head (the thread part)
take off the rocker cover and you can use two of the nuts locked together to screw them out or you can use some multigrips to unscrew them
if you use the multigrips dont damage where the top seals(under the rocker cover nuts )sit this area will be clean
try to turn them on the part that is stained with oil
they will be tight but will unscrew if you turn them anticlockwise
remove all 4 of them clean them up with a wire wheel(bench grinder) and put some toyota black sealer or similar on the threads (lots) and then screw them back in
and refit rocker cover

[2jzhilux]

When you put the new gasket on, the w/s manual says to put a blob of gasket silicone in the corners at either end of the camshaft bearing caps are.

Put the rocker cover back on and tighten those big nuts equally.

make sure you do this too

[Cruiser97_80]

I agree with ecotec
But we used to use a holden thread sealant product on the threads