I need help from all you petrol heads out there. I recently aquired one of the cars of my dreams. A Mazda 323f zxi V6 24v. Gorgeous car. Unfortunately I neglected to check the spark plugs before I bought it. During it's initial service I found plugs 1 and 3 covered in WET oil. (After driving it)

All I want you guys to tell me is :

1. It's only the valve stem seals that are rogered.

2. It's a piece o' piss to do.

FUKTIFINO!

its shouldnt be gettin oil into the combustion chamber or on the spark plugs hmmmmm. Check the dipstick for the oil level regually i hav heard of this before but cant remember the solution.

if its overfilled with oil then some may force its way past the piston rings.

but i think the problem sounds a bit more complex than that.

how does the car run?
does it blow blue smoke from the exhaust?

From www.club323f.com:

http://www.club323f.com/ba/tuning/plugs/plugs_diag.php


Mark

The car appears to run fine. I drove to Plymouth and back at the weekend (about 600 miles). It 'pinks' a little but pulls great.
There's no major smoke coming from the exhaust. But you can tell it's burning it from the colour of the ports.
It looks like I'm gonna have to source a replacement engine.

That aside, where can I get a decent manual for the V6. I went to Halfords (my 1st mistake) and bought a Chilton book from the U.S. (that was my 2nd mistake). Iknow what the U.S. stands for in U.S.A. . . . . . . .
Useless Shit.

Crakl
This question is important to my reply to your problem.
Are the plugs wet because there is oil in the spark plug sockets, ie outside the combustion chamber, or are they wet on the electrode ends, ie the end that goes inside the combustion chamber?

The oil is on the threads of the plugs. I've just taken no.1 plug out and there is still wet oil on the thread and around the washer, but the electrode is burning quite a nice shade of pale brown.

Tell me, tell me!

Crakl
If the electrode is dry, and a healthy colour, but the threads have oil on them I would say all you have is a leaky rocker cover gasket, I had a 626 that had this, it just leaked a little oil into the spark plug sockets.
It never caused me any trouble so I never bothered to change the gasket, if you can be bothered, just wipe the oil away from time to time by taking the plugs out and pushing a lint free cloth down the spark plug hole to soak up any oil that may be down there.
If you feel you want to change the gasket, its not a big job, and shouldn`t be expensive.
Hope that helps.

[color=blue]Agree with sam there, if it has a pool of oil on plug sockets then it is the rocker cover (common enough, and by sods law its the one at the back, which is most labour intensive!!) Not a real problem, just annoying until you can get it cured by replacing gasket. Make sure you've a rag if you want to keep it clear!![/color]

yup agree with that diagnosis mate.
sorry, but in the earlier post i thought you mean`t the actual electrode had oil on it.

this also happens on the BG dohc engine, the rocker gasket leaks and in extreme cases the plug holes can fill right up with oil.

Thanks to all for your replies.

But I still need a useful manual and Haynes don't do one. Any suggestions?

[color=blue]For the 323f, there isn't one, its too disimilar to the saloon/3-door. Unless you are personal friends with someone who works at a dealer or are persuasive enough to buy a works manual (over £80 at a guess, many from other manufacturers are) from a dealer you're gonna be poking around in dark.
This forum is useful in a sense someone else has done it before, as is MX3-MX6 (even Ford Probe 24valve) forums 'cos the engines are very similar, and often on eBay is a parts disc, not a manual as such, but gives you exploded diagrams and prices of assemblies etc, so is useful in deciding how this goes where etc.[/color]

[quote="sam2mazdas"]Crakl
If the electrode is dry, and a healthy colour, but the threads have oil on them I would say all you have is a leaky rocker cover gasket, I had a 626 that had this, it just leaked a little oil into the spark plug sockets.
It never caused me any trouble so I never bothered to change the gasket, if you can be bothered, just wipe the oil away from time to time by taking the plugs out and pushing a lint free cloth down the spark plug hole to soak up any oil that may be down there.
If you feel you want to change the gasket, its not a big job, and shouldn`t be expensive.
Hope that helps.[/quote]

I wouldnt do this as all this shit that can accumulate will be pushed down the hole !! I suggest leaving the plug in, put a rag over the top and either suk the gunk out or use an air gun to blow it out Then try and wipe out whats left

a tampax comes in handy........








no, i haven`t tried it!!!

Yeah right Gee lol

[quote="essex-lad"][quote="sam2mazdas"]Crakl
If the electrode is dry, and a healthy colour, but the threads have oil on them I would say all you have is a leaky rocker cover gasket, I had a 626 that had this, it just leaked a little oil into the spark plug sockets.
It never caused me any trouble so I never bothered to change the gasket, if you can be bothered, just wipe the oil away from time to time by taking the plugs out and pushing a lint free cloth down the spark plug hole to soak up any oil that may be down there.
If you feel you want to change the gasket, its not a big job, and shouldn`t be expensive.
Hope that helps.[/quote]

I wouldnt do this as all this shit that can accumulate will be pushed down the hole !! I suggest leaving the plug in, put a rag over the top and either suk the gunk out or use an air gun to blow it out Then try and wipe out whats left [/quote]

Essex Lad,
I know what you are saying, but don`t see how dirt etc could get down the plug sockets, as the plug leads have caps on them that seal the socket precisely to stop water / debris getting in there.

Dont you believe it. Sand n Grit finds its way in anywhere

[quote="essex-lad"]Dont you believe it. Sand n Grit finds its way in anywhere [/quote]
Yeah, know what you mean,, just been swimming on holiday in Tenerife.

Water definately gets in there Only if you're over the top while washing the engine though

Mark

I had a problem like that b u t it turned out to be those rubber seals under the gasket they caused the car to missfire a shuts off a lot i also still have some oil on the plug threads but that doesnt seems to affect performance