karolus007

I have oil in my spark plug wells. Is that normal for the ej25 none turbo. what should i do. i thougth its the gasket between the head and the cover? let me know what you think

my25rs

iTrader: (2)

it could also be the the oil ring

shazaam

Ah yes, the feeling you get when you see oil in places it doesn't belong is niether fun nor funny... I had this problem about 20K mi ago in my 2001 RS. The good news is that it isn't as bad as you might think.

I replaced the valve cover gaskets (there is a left and a right vcg on the impreza H4 engine) then the PCV valve. I'm told that if that craps out, it fails to maintain the vacuum in the crankcase, which can force oil into the plug wells.

Dunno, but it's like a $4 part, so I figured it was worth a shot (but didn't think of it before having the gaskets done). Those 2 things seemed to have fixed it.

My girlfriend just bought a used TS, and we replaced the plugs this weekend to find it was doing the same thing, at about the same mileage mine had the problem. So yes, I think it's common, but no, it's not normal.

With hers, we are replacing the PCV valve first, and seeing if that does it, if not, we'll cough up the +/- $300 to do the valve cover gaskets.

Hope this helps.

- Caleb