Oil on spark plug

Hey guys, so I replaced the spark plugs on my Tacoma (08 dbsb 82k) tonight and ran into what I hope isn't too big of an issue. All of the plugs looked normal until I pulled the one closest to the drivers seat (cylinder 5 i believe) it has oil gunk built up to the porcelain of the plug. I bought the truck in December from a Toyota dealer with 71k on it and I don't think the plugs were ever replaced by the previous owner. I did some googlefoo and looked here on TW and have seen that people have talked about oil on the threads but I couldn't find anything about oil up to the porcelain part of the plug. I'm not really much of a mechanic, if anyone has any info about this it would be greatly appreciated.

 

That plug was not properly torqued and that's partially burned fuel goo - my best guess. Put a new one in and check on it. I'm guessing the truck runs noticeably better with new plugs.

 

Was there a reason you pulled the plugs did it feel like it was missing? It could be die electric grease. There doesn't appear to be any residue on the electrode. And there looks like there is grease on the coil pack. That hole looks clean there doesn't look like there is any goo down in the threads. Clean up the coil pack and put some die electric grease in it and put a new plug it. And call it a day

 

I would venture a guess and say it is oil from a leaking valve cover/spark plug tube seal gasket. Its leaking allowing oil to drop on the top side of the spark plug and coil pack.

 

Care to elaborate as to why the goo is red ?

Op did you clean off that coil pack ? Does the inside of it where the tip of that plug goes is it filled with that goo?

And the reason why I'm asking is if the tube was covered in goo or not can help point you in the direction as to what the problem is

 

Common issue is a small leak from the spark plug well gasket. These come with the new valve cover gasket.

 

Sub'd

 

No reason that I pulled the plugs, just doing some maintenance. But now that I have replaced them the truck seems to be running better and starts a bit faster from what I have noticed so far.

 

Valve cover gasket time. Before the others start to poo too.

Not an emergency rush, but I'd not wait terribly long either.

 

The tip of the plug was clean and yes, I did wipe off the coil pack. It wasn't filled with anything, maybe a little residue. I will pull it back out in a week or so and see if anymore residue has built up.

 

I agree, valve cover gaskets are the reason you will have oil in the spark plug tubes

 

this. the valve cover plug gasket is gone and you need to R&R the valve covers and gaskets


run it for a while if you want,

but if enough oil dribbles out and smears up the engine bay that is a fire hazard.

left alone all that does is make a big mess and may interfere with ignition.

 

Just looks like burnt oil to me.

 

Thanks for all of the replies and info fellas! Im going to go ahead and put in some new gaskets to prevent further issues.

 

I second this.

 

its just leaky valve cover gasket, the red is rtv from the last time the a sloppy mechanic replaced the gasket. use black rtv if you need it

 

Hi guys. I believe I also did not properly torque the plugs you see pictures here. They were replaced and I had to run a 12 gauge shotgun mop down the tub to clean out the gunk and residue. I noticed after only 10k miles that my gas mileage was getting worse. About 14 to 16 mpg. Pulled the plugs and saw a giant mess. After cleaning and replacing with OEM I saw a dramatic increase in mpg and noticeable improvement in operation.