oil on plugs?

[toad]

have some poblems with my echo under acclleration. i putters when gaining speed. i cleaned the maf, iac, and changed-out the plugs. when swapping those i noticed fresh oil on the old ones and in the plug cylinders(i had also just changed the oil so i know its fresh). any idea what that could be? thanks!

[tmontague]

Your valve cover gasket is likely shot and needs replacing. This will cause oil to deep into the plug holes and foul the plugs

[SirDigby]

yea. easy fix hopefully...

[toad]

thanks! i'll check amazon right now for one. would this cause the issue i'm having with rough idle? it might still be the idle control valve, but i can't seem to access it other than sticking q-tips soaked with throttle body cleaner down into the opening from inside the throttle body(the screws are stripped).

also, are any special tools required to remove/replace the gasket? i noticed the bolts look just like standard size on the top of the valves. just hoping i'm not missing anything! will i need a silicone sealant to apply to the new gasket or do they self-seal?

thanks again!

[B.B._07]

The 1NZ-FE has the valve cover gasket combined with the spark plug tube seals so it's probably your valve cover gasket. Before you go replacing it make sure the 10mm bolts and nuts securing the valve cover gasket have not worked themselves loose (they should be torqued to 10Nm or 7 ft-lb). To replace the valve cover gasket you'll need a 10mm socket and a small pry bar or large flathead screwdriver. Toyota recommends applying a small amount of FIPG (Toyota Black Seal Packing/Threebond 1207B or equivalent) on the passenger side of the valve cover. If you don't feel like buying the dealer sealant you can use Permatex Ultra Grey or Black or any RTV sealant recommended for valve cover gaskets.

[toad]

thanks!!!! i'll look into the sealants too.

[tmontague]

thanks! i'll check amazon right now for one. would this cause the issue i'm having with rough idle? it might still be the idle control valve, but i can't seem to access it other than sticking q-tips soaked with throttle body cleaner down into the opening from inside the throttle body(the screws are stripped).
thanks again!

What year yaris do you have? I'm pretty sure they don't have an idle control valve due to the electronic throttle control (at least my 2008 doesn't)

Oil on the plugs could potentially cause a rough idle due to fouling of the plugs but generally it would trigger a misfire code if that happened.

[toad]

This is actually the 01 echo. I worked on it yesterday and thanks to all the helpful advice it was easier than I thought! I'm waiting the advised 24hrs. before running it so we'll see what happens later today. Does anyone think the plugs I just put in are ruined now? I know they got oil on them and they're a little black now, but before I knew about the gasket I just replaced the plugs(I always start with cheaper solutions first). Anyways, I guess I'll know for sure in a few hours.

[tmontague]

Lol on plugs is virtually never a plug fault. Meaning, if you ever find excessive oil on the plugs before you put new ones in first find the root cause.

I wphld just spray off your old ones with some brake cleaner. Once it evaporates apply dielectric grease to the cool where the plug inserts.

Also id recommend applying a small amount of anti seize on the threads of the plugs

[toad]

well...it runs MUCH better, but i'm still getting a shake once i hit 45-50mph and goes away at highway cruising(65mph). i've read in other threads about checking the pcv valve. what is that and where would i locate it on our engines? not even sure if it's related to the problems i'm having, but at this point i want to cross-off all the boxes before i even think about the dealership. i'm going to have the code(s) looked-up soon, but the last time i was at the dealership for that they literally wrote me a list of TWELVE codes that they found! this was for the mysterious idle issue they never could find an answer for after taking $500 of my money for labor/diagnostics(it went away on its own).

any more thoughts/suggestions are welcome and thanks again!

[toad]

found the pcv valve and removed it today. it was a little gunked-up, but i still heard it rattle when i shook it. went ahead and cleaned it out since i had it off anyways. car still runs like before. going to get the code checked in the next couple days.

oh...and it's my 500th post!!! woo-hoo!