spark plugs dripping with oil

[ed cougar]

It's a fresh 428 scj, I pulled the plugs for the second time and still they are dripping with oil some worse than others, the raw oil seems to be only on the threads of the plug. The insulators look great, tan in color and clean not oil fouled no engine missfire, no smoke. I looked closely for any signs of external oil leaks vlv. cvrs. ect. and externally it's squeeky clean and painted. I looked in the cylinders with a light there is signs of oil on the piston tops that match the plugs, oil to the rocker shafts is restricted, returns are clear, oil baffles are in place, could these symptoms be the infamous fel-pro intake gaskets leaking? the posotive type valve stem seals are being used so I don't think the oil coming from above, any ideas will be greatly appreciated thanks. Oh yea forgot to mention it's an aluminum PI int. and I am running pcv. stock volume oil pump 68#cold 25#hot at idle.

[Woodz428]

I've seen the same on many FE's (and others as well) and concluded that it is blown up into the threads by cylinder pressure. The clearance in the threads may be enough to allow this when the rings etc. are seating or even on decelleration. The fact that you have a good color would indicate that it isn't excessive enough to affect the combustion process. When you drop the throttle the high vacuum is probably pulling some oil that gets mixed with the gas and is forced into the thread area. If oil consumption isn't a problem I wouldn't be concerned.

[ed cougar]

Ok Woodz! now that's good news. I'll run it as is and see what happens. Thanks for sharing that with us.

[Paul Sutphen]

Read my response in "Motor Smokes" thread regarding PCV problem.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Hi,

You are getting oil in the cylinder from the rings not seated yet or the pvc system. Try putting a restrictor in the pvc line and see if it clears, if not then take the cobra out and try tp seat the rings.- do 6 or 8 accereration runs from 2,000 to 4,000 rpm in 3rd gear and let the engine decellerate. This should put pressure on the rings in both directions and seat them. Then drive normally for a few hundred miles and change oil.
Perry.

[Traveller]

I say the valve cover gasket is leaking oil down the side into the spark plug pockets. It would be hard to see on freshly painted heads

If you are using the rubber ones, toss em and use cork.

[ed cougar]

Definately not the valve covers I would see the oil around the pockets, the oil wouldnt get past the tapered seat into the thread area, until I break them loose of course. I'm leaning towards the high compression rings not seated theory, I'm trying to get some info on the childs and albert zero gap rings I think they should have seated by now. My initial run in went smooth without a hitch, started right up the first crank and I've put a couple hundred miles on the motor no highway just short bursts around town mostly, and have yet to blast anything above 5000ish RPM. I'm hopeing it will go away, or it's just going to get worse and the cure may become more evident to me, thanks for your input and I will micro inspect those valve covers.