I'll try to draw a clear picture in hopes that someone will be able to steer me in the right direction:

bought the car this past summer. Had a check engine light so I had the codes read and found it to be the catalytic converter. Have an e-check to pass so I weighed the cost out and decided to go ahead and purchase. Replaced the converter immediately. No check engine light anymore for about a month or more. Then it came back in the first bad icy snow storm...blinking. It even seemed that when the AC was activated (during that crazy sled ride through the ice) it would trigger the blinking (ac activated with defogging the windscreen). Did some reading about ignition coils and the like. Got the code from local parts place. One of the cylinders was misfiring. I took out all the ignition coils (one at a time) and found that the engine, although a little shaky compared to before, did not really run differently, however, the back-most plug has the slightest amount of oil (not filled but you could tell there was oil). I replaced the o-rings and valve-cover with new seals, replaced the plugs but left the smae ignition coils for now. Well, another icy day(s) is upon us and the light has no shut off and now is blinking (assume meaning catalytic converter damage is happening...yikes). I took all the ignition coils out again. STILL a slight amount of oil in that back-most cylinder. I have an ignition coil on the way but can anyone make sense of the situation?

THANKS!!!!!!! I NEED HELP!

 

*bump*

 

You were not being ignored. Until you replace that coil it's hard to form an opinion. From what I have read, the coils can have a occasional or partial misfire that does not throw a code, but can still damage the cats.
Are you positive it's oil and not residue from unburned fuel on the plug? The more volatile components of the fuel are likely to evaporate before you pull the plug and not smell like fuel.
If it is oil a compression test should tell if a ring is broken.

 

Thanks for the reply and I apologize for my frantic posting. I'm very much in love with this car as you might be able to tell....and check engine lights and burping from the exhaust and misfire codes obviously are my first worries.

Hopefully the replacement coil will be in the mail when I get home tonight, however, the residue really does appear to be oil. It feels and looks like fresh oil. It's not "A LOT" (not filling up or submerging anything in oil....it's just "there". Having just replaced the o-rings, it makes me just wonder if it just might be that I didn't clean it out during that process as good as I thought (and I hope that's all it is). I'll try recleaning that area when the coil comes in and hope for the best I guess. I hope the converter hasn't suffered too much damage in the meantime.

Thanks

 

I misread your first post and thought you meant there was oil on the electrode of the plug. A little trace of oil on the outside should not be a problem. In your research you probably noticed comments about the dash lighting up like a christmas tree when a coil failed, and one member even had the instrument pack fail because of a bad coil.