sucking sound when preparing to change spark plug

labradort · Apr 13th, 2004, 11:10 AM

I have a '98 Nissan Frontier with the 4 cylinder motor.

Yesterday I decided to install some platinum plugs in it.
I've only owned it for 2 months now, and it has 235,000 KM on it.

When I pulled up the spark plug boot from cylinder 1, there was a sucking sound I've never
heard before in all of the spark plug changes I've done. The boot came into view and I could
see oil dripping from it. I got the courage to look into the channel
and only saw oil - a spark plug boot channel filled with oil and no spark plug visible.

I changed the other plugs and they were all dry as expected.
Before and after this spark plug change there was no problem
with the engine running and no smoke or anything to suggest
a problem.

I didn't replace the cylinder 1 plug since quite a bit of oil would have
entered the cylinder and gunked up things. I'll be getting my mechanic to
take a look at this, but I thought I'd relay this finding here in case
anyone else has seen this happen.

KA24Ewoog · Apr 14th, 2004, 08:01 AM

Did you check to see if your valve cover gasket was leaking there or near there? The plug wells a good place for oil to pool.

felesae · Apr 4th, 2005, 04:01 PM

Hey, I found the same thing when I went to do my 1999 frontier plugs. Did you ever find the cause? I changed it anyway and my truck seems to be running fine with the new plugs. Tx- felesae

spec240sx · Apr 4th, 2005, 04:47 PM

Take the Valve cover off and replace the Gasket... More than likely the
seals around the casting are cut and causing the leak.. Easy and worth the time.\

Quote:

Originally Posted by labradort

I have a '98 Nissan Frontier with the 4 cylinder motor.

Yesterday I decided to install some platinum plugs in it.
I've only owned it for 2 months now, and it has 235,000 KM on it.

When I pulled up the spark plug boot from cylinder 1, there was a sucking sound I've never
heard before in all of the spark plug changes I've done. The boot came into view and I could
see oil dripping from it. I got the courage to look into the channel
and only saw oil - a spark plug boot channel filled with oil and no spark plug visible.

I changed the other plugs and they were all dry as expected.
Before and after this spark plug change there was no problem
with the engine running and no smoke or anything to suggest
a problem.

I didn't replace the cylinder 1 plug since quite a bit of oil would have
entered the cylinder and gunked up things. I'll be getting my mechanic to
take a look at this, but I thought I'd relay this finding here in case
anyone else has seen this happen.

87nissanKC · Apr 4th, 2005, 10:24 PM

At my last job i worked at an auto dealership and drove a 98 Nissan Frontier. Well one day they decided to do some work on it and when i got back from doing something one of my friends at the shop told me to go and pull spark plug #1 boot. So I went over pulled it out and had oil go everywhere. Then he told me the gasket was bad and caused all the oil to seep into the spark plug hole. He changed the gasket and everythig was good.

So long story short...Change the gasket, and your plug and everything will be fine. You may want to stick a couple of rags down there to sop up the oil so it all doesn't go down the spark plug hole.

grrtt98 · Feb 6th, 2007, 09:50 PM

I have the cylinder 1 plug leak on my 98 4 cylinder too. It was a small amount the first time I noticed it and I changed the plug anyway. The plug boot is soaked in oil if I remove it now and I can see where a little oil has seeped out of the well.