Oil in spark plug hole
 

Hi gang, I am brand new to the forum. I just purchased a 200K+ '91 Miata which runs and looks great. I took it on a 500 mile shake-down trip immediately and it performed flawlessly. So far, so good. I just changed plugs & wires, and noticed a significant amount of oil in my #3 plug hole (cam cover). The electrode on the plug was not fouled or oily, just oil in the plug hole. Do I just have a leaky cam cover gasket, or do I have a major engine problem? (I have worked on old cars, but not on modern cars like this one.) I figured on doing a timing belt/water pump replacement ASAP anyway, since the car had no maintanence records. Still runs great, but I'm now wondering if I got as great a deal as I had thought....hmmmm

RE: Oil in spark plug hole
 

does the car appear to smoke,if not i recommend replacing cam cover gaskets when you perform the other repairs

RE: Oil in spark plug hole
 

Ya, what he said, check out the valve cover gasket, it has integrated seals which do just that, keep oil out of your spark plug tubes, so chances are that it's been a while since it was changed and it's starting to break down. (Typical of most vehicles) Timing belt and water pump is a good idea as well if it's a 91, if you have everything apart you'll probably want to replace front cam and crank seals as well.