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i was changing my spark plugs on my 2000 which a bought not too long ago and found one of them is stuck/cracked/something! the tube (not sure what the technical name is) has oil inside of it, and i cant get the spark plug socket to catch the plug at all. has this ever happened to anyone? i think it still works though as i lose power when i remove the boot to it. Buuut i need to get it out as its old as F*ck. wha can i do?

Thats a tough one. If the tube has oil in it chances are its loose. pull the valve cover and see if you can slide the tube out. that may give you enough room to work with the plug, at least see why it isn't engaging the socket. If the tube doesn't come out they are less than $10, so if you damage it, it won't cost a fortune to replace. if it does, slide out clean and lightly sand the bore/tube and loc-tite it back in that should cure the oil problem, along with new seals for the top. Check the other tubes while the valve cover is off. use a straight edge to check alignment of the tube when installed otherwise you could have some trouble getting the holes in the valve cover to line up.

Didn't think of this earlier, as it was early Possibly the metal clip from the plug wire is still on the plug keeping the socket from going on all the way. I would check the ends of the wires to see if they all have the metal retainer. The tube leak will still need repaired tho.

the spark plug was broken, and a piece was getting in the way. thats why i couldnt get the socket to catch. so we were able to change it out...BUT it turns out the reason there's oil in there is due to a screwed up piston. so even with the new plug, i will continue to get oil on the spark plugs. the guy who checked it out says im better off exchanging the car for another.

rseldner wrote:the spark plug was broken, and a piece was getting in the way. thats why i couldnt get the socket to catch. so we were able to change it out...BUT it turns out the reason there's oil in there is due to a screwed up piston. so even with the new plug, i will continue to get oil on the spark plugs. the guy who checked it out says im better off exchanging the car for another.

How did he know that the cylinder is screwed up ? how did he test it?i don't think a bad cylinder will lead to oil on the spark plug......?
make sure the its not what occasionldemons said, the spark plug tube...

take off the valve cover and look....

good luck, hopefully it is not serious

not sure how they checked it. my coworker took it to his uncle, who is a mechanic, while i was at work to check out why the spark plug wouldn't come out. he removed he valve cover, cleaned it up and took off the busted plug. He also checked out my breaks and some squeeking croming from a belt. anyways...he said that even with the new spark plug, oil would continue to seep in due to the bad piston. He said i could simply stick with it, but would require constant cleaning of the tube and spark plug, and could actually lead to further problems down the road. i trust the guy as he did it as a favor to my coworker. he has nothing to gain. (plus checking myself wont help. i'm a newb when it comes to motors) i'm going to talk to the guy today....hopefully he's willing to simply fix it. the car's grown on me during these past few weeks and i dont want to deal with reinstalling the stock intake, grill, and removing the stereo.

Oil inside the tube where the sparkplug boot is will not come from a bad piston. Oil on the plug where it sparks may come from that, but if it was that bad the car would run like crap and kill flying insects for miles from the blue smoke rolling out the exhaust. If it isn't blowing smoke your engine is fine. If you should need an engine they aren't that expensive. Just stick to years older than 2003, as the crank sensors are different. The NGC blocks won't work in the older Neons. They will fit, yes, but from what I understand they can't be made to run, unless you go all '03-up engine PCM/sensors. I wish there was some pics to show the difference between them, for my own curiosity.

yeah it is super common for tube seals to leak.

alright....so i took your guys advice. i checked again and noticed that the tube w/ oil in it was in fact sticking out about 1/3 higher than the other tubes. so i tapped it back into place with a hammer. just when i thought everything was great i turned the car back on and now im getting white smoke when i accelerate. now what? :-/ is this excess oil that got in the block and just needs to burn? did i bust the tube?

yep it is left over oil... the best thing it to let it run it's corse... or take the plug out for 2 hours and let it run down.

The best thing is to replace the plugs soon... because the plug wil foul out... also check the wires after doing so.
the reason i say to check the wires is bcause it cooks the inside.

took it for a quick lap. smoke is now gone the spark plugs are a week old. do i still need to replace them after this ordeal?

They'll be fine. If it's running good they have burned off any oil. just keep an eye on that tube. You may have to pull and loc-tite it eventually.

yeah a weak old is alright.... i figured they were oem .

thnx for the help guys. hopefully this problem is solved.