Finally got a nice spring day in Northern Indiana and decided to do my first tune up on my '06 Ralliart I bought in January. When pulling my plugs, I noticed there was a small amount of oil in the bore where my plugs go. It's wasn't pooled in the bottom of the bore, or caked on the plugs. Just small amounts on the bore walls and actual plug wire/pack. Do I need to hold off on throwing my new Densos in, or is that small amount normal?

This is my first post as a virgin Ralliart owner, so you guys might have to bare with me for a bit. Haha

 

I dont think thats normal, there are 4 little round gaskets that come with the felpro kit thats go around the spark tubes, so maybe one of those is cracked?? Do u have a pic you can post for us? And welcome to the forums

 

Bore

 

Plug tube

 

yeah, replace your spark plug seals...is the valve cover leaking at all?

 

Not that I could see. I cleaned the valve cover and top end off and I'm gonna play the waiting game. By the looks of it, the motor hasn't been degreased or even wiped down for quite some time.

 

you would see a leak, a bad leak would have wet oil, a slow leak would show a collection of oily mud at the seam where the head meets the block...but if you're pulling the valve cover you may as well replace its gasket since it probably hasn't been done or at least not in a while...

 

Yeah. That's the route I'm gonna go. Called around local auto parts stores and they sell the plug tube seals for $24.99, but the valve cover gasket set for $19.99. Like you said though, might as well change the valve cover gasket while I've got the valve cover pulled. Thanks for the help. It's amazing the help I've gotten from here just from reading, let alone asking some questions.

 

There's finally a RA owner in IN! lol i drove through there like 2 weeks ago and never saw one 04-06 lancer.

Reading first, ask later. Chances are unless there's some odd problem that isnt specific to just your car, then it's most likely already been asked somewhere here on the forum glad to know you know how to use the search function

 

Haha. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the northern half of the state at least. Every auto parts store I call, they ask for the motor and I tell them 2.4 and they all say its the first time they've heard it.. I got a good price on mine, but it's gonna be a work in progress for a while. My buddy talked me into buying it, but I think he just wanted someone to challenge him, seeing as he drives an '07 WRX. It'll take some time, but I'll be damned if I don't get there. I'm still bone stock under the hood, besides the intake, so he's only got me by about 120HP at the wheels for now

 

if you think its leaking oil then yeah best bet is clean in like u did and wait a few weeks youll see it, is there noticable loss between oil changes? as for the gasket the felpro comes with the spark tubes and i think its maybe 30range canadian.

 

I actually just did my first oil change right before changing the plugs. I bought the car in mid January and have put just about 500 miles on it.

It was out of commission for short periods of time. After about a month of owning it I was turning, going about 10MPH, and my lower control arm sheared off and did a little damage to my CV shaft in the process. I replaced the lower control and CV shaft on both sides. Then a week after fixing that and getting my alignment done, I was driving a little liberally and my car went into limp mode, so it sat for about another week while I was assessing that situation. Needless to say, I haven't been able to put many miles on it. Haha

And I can get the felpro kit for $20, which I plan on doing this weekend, as opposed to $25 for just the plug tube seals.

Also found some throttle bodies on eBay off the Endeavors for around $85, so I might be heading in that direction as well if I can get them shipped in time

 

lol, wtf...

sounds like bad luck to me...sounds like the previous owner may have been rough on her..

 

Did your lower control arm look like this ?

 

Yeah.. That's what it would have looked like if it would've stayed intact. I had a control arm hanging while the ball joint was right where it was supposed to be.

Then I got a call from the tire place that was doing my alignment to say they needed to shave my strut bolt on the side the control arm broke because they couldn't adjust it enough. I'd say it was slightly bent from the sudden skid stop I was introduced to when my control arm broke. Guess what else I'll be replacing here shortly haha