Hey everyone,

I am new to the forum, trying to help my brother out with a repair on his 2005 Endeavor. I have been lurking for a few days and trying to search out the problems, but haven't had all that much luck.

So the issue is he got a CEL and a misfire code for cylinder 3. I pulled the plugs and 5 of the 6 were covered in oil, on cylinders 1,2,4,5, & 6. The coil packs had some oil on the and the electrodes were pretty bad, as in dripping. I suspected the spark plug tube seals.

No oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. Leaks must not be too fast either because there is no blue smoke in the exhaust.

I started some diagnostic testing today. Hooked up my smoke machine to the valve cover to see if I saw puffs coming from the spark plug tube seals, but saw nothing.

I moved on to run a cylinder leak down test on cylinders 1 and 4 first. I put in 10 PSI and got about 2 PSI lost. But I could hear it coming from the valve cover cap. So somehow I am getting air from the cylinder to the valve cover. I was on TDC for each cylinder on the compression stroke also.

My guesses, head gaskets on both heads or cracked heads, or a slight chance the intake valves need adjusting and the tube seals are leaking slightly.

Any help is appreciated. I am not very familiar with known issues on these vehicles. Surprises me that both head gaskets are out at the same time. Although, he did switch over to a semi-synthetic blend two oil changes ago. I guess there is a chance the previous owner has head gasket issues or he had them and this exposed them.

Oh, and the vehicle is at 107,000 miles.

Thanks.

 

sounds like the valve cover seals are leaking change the valve cover gasket when you change the seals

 

Not to doubt you, but how would this sound like the valve cover gasket? The valve cover gasket should be the interface between the valve train and the engine compartment, no? My leaks are going into the cylinders. Nothing is leaking outside of the engine. Just trying to make sure I am not totally misunderstanding this engine.

On a side note, I agree with you on changing the valve cover gasket. I am sure it needs it, and very sure that I will have a leak after if I don't. Always works that way.

 

there are seals that seal the oil from the spark plug holes when they fill up with oil when you remove the plugs the oil runs down into the cylinders thus covering your plugs with oil

 

Oh, ok. The spark plug tube seals. Yes. I agree and I think those were leaking. I am going to change all of those and I am going to change the valve cover gaskets while I am in there for good measure.

 

keep us posted

 

Changed out the valve cover gasket and the spark plug tube seals yesterday. So far so good. Took way too long because those valve cover gaskets were baked into the valve cover and had to be pryed/scraped out without bending the cover. That added about an hour and a half to the job. Along with finding some vacuum hoses that had been repaired with electrical tape. All in all it was a 4 hour job after two trips to the local NAPA.

I still have to clear the check engine light with my code reader, unless it goes off on its own before I see my brother again.

Thanks for the help, and I will give another update this coming weekend, but I think it is fixed.

 

cool let us know

 

I just went through this same issue. Those gaskets are a PITA to remove once they've been baked on to the valve cover. Make sure you remove, clean and replace the spark plugs to get rid of the leaked oil.

 

Follow up to the issue. Oil problem and misfire codes solved. The spark plug tube seals were leaking. I think when he switched to all synthetic it exposed the damaged tube seals.

I am sure there were multiple problems, but my brother has complained that the car stutters when giving it gas and trying to accelerate. Not everytime, and more so when it is warm out. I am guessing a vacuum leak and/or a sensor for the air flow potentially?

One problem down, hopefully just one to go.