Oil on spark plug wires?

What does this mean? I changed my wires this morning and when I pulled the old ones out, 2 of the 4 had oil on them.

This is a recent development. I changed the plugs and not the wires a couple months ago and when I had the wires out, they were not oily.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I assume this is a "4 banger"?

Are the two oily wires both on the same side?

And if so, which side - drivers or passenger?

Who does your oil changes (you or a shop)?

Do you always get your oil changes done by the same place - or do you sometimes get them elsewhere? Especially since you chabged the plugs.

 

It is a 4 cyl. 2.7L

Not sure how to answer the wire location relative to driver/passenger side. They run north to south, perpendicular to the cab. The oily wires were #1 and #4...#1 being at the front of the valve cover and #4 being at the back.

I've had the last 3 oil changes done at the same shop. I've only started doing my own work about 2000 miles ago, so I haven't needed to do the oil myself yet.

The oil has not been changed since the new plugs were installed.

Thanks.

 

Correct, geez I'm sorry - I was thinking V6. of course you have an inline 4, front to back configuration.

Well, I'll tell you what my thinking was...

I was hypothesising that either,

a) your oil cap was left loose or had a bad seal (inspect it for damage on underside where it mates to the engine)

- OR -

b) your oil filter was loose or had a bad seal.


But if the two plug wires farthest apart are oily then my thinking doesn't fit I guess.

I assume the wires are oily right at the plug end correct? Or are they oily in another place along the wires?

If there was not a lot of oil and it was black, maybe caked on then it gets difficult to diagnose since a single event could have caused it.

For example: When my truck was new I got the oil changed at a shop. They actually forgot to put the oil cap back on. But apparently realized their error and when I picked it up and drove home all was fine (they didn't mention anything to me BTW). Well, a week or two later I had the hood up to put in a KN air filter and saw some oil here and there around the engine compartment. I freaked out since the truck was brand new. Went to the dealer and they couldn't figure it out. Went back to the oils change shop and they admitted to what had happened and agreed to steam clean my engine compartment. I'm just glad they admitted it or I'd still be wondering about the mystery oil.

Maybe it is something similar in your case??

 

Yep they're oily at the plug end but also at the top. Maybe it's starting at the top and dripping down to the plug end? The oil looks pretty clean.

I just ran out to to check the oil cap...I bought a new one a couple months ago so I knew the seal would be good but was worried I'd left it loose...everything seemed to be good though.

It could definitely something similar done by the shop...might be worth going back. I wasn't going to go back there because they told me that I had a rear main seal leak which I know is a major job to fix. I looked around and I think that it's actually the oil pan, which is something I can do myself.

Appreciate the help.

 

Replace your valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals.

 

^^^Here you go^^^^

 

I did the valve cover gasket a few months ago. Spark plug tube seals are a good call. 0% chance I'd have figured that out on my own. Guess I should've done that at the same time I did the valve cover gasket...oh well.

Thank you.