I decided to replace the spark plugs in my 2014 F-Type six cylinder with 104K miles and found one plug tube had oil in it. What is involved in fixing the seal or replacing the tube and/or seal? Do I have to remove the valve cover?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Greg

 

Baxter,

Congrats on reaching 104K. My Type R is at 30k, and I replaced plugs at the five-year mark. At your milage the plug could have possibly started to back out due to years of vibration (although uncommon) in my experience.

I would monitor the cylinder where oil was discovered. Be sure to torque the plug properly and only install when the heads are cold.

Unless the plug was cross threaded from the factory there should be no need to repair however if the plug does not seal the head would need to be removed for tapping/heli-coil installation due to the amount of metal the job produces.

 

I spoke with a technician at a repair shop who is familiar with these vehicles. He said there are seals that eventually leak, and the valve covers as an assembly should be replaced when oil is found around a spark plug. It's a $3k - $4k job to do (14 shop hours). I just spent $4k on the engine replacing the plastic cooling parts and changing the accessory and supercharger belts. I'm not in a position to spend another $4k on it right now. So the new plugs are going in and everything put back together and we're going to drive the car and monitor the oil in that one spark plug hole.

Greg

 

Greg,

I believe I misunderstood your issue and thought you were referring to oil coming up through where the spark plugs seats. There are seals under the valve cover between each spark plug.

The valve cover with all new hardware a seals will run about $200 right side (AJ814028) and $230 for the left (AJ814028). Although the job is not hard it is time consuming, and you need to have access to a garage. Outside of that you would need an injector puller $130(good one) and at least a rebuild kit for the injectors $28.00ea.

The biggest part of the job is the supercharger and fuel injector removal (after depressurizing the fuel system).

On the positive side it will allow the opportunity to gain an enormous amount of knowledge of the car. It also is a great time to replace the injectors $800 for all 8 at Parts Geek ((BS62120) and upper seals/gaskets.

If you ever want to tackle the job, send a pm to swap numbers and I could walk you through the process and save some painful lessons learned.
Philip