What would cause this oil issue?

[nickskater09]

So I've recently swapped a B25 into my E28 and it's having some oil consumption issues. I'm think it could be an improperly torqued head gasket because it was my first full engine rebuild and it seemed fairly healthy (piston ring wise) before I rebuilt it.

Now with this consumption issue, I keep pulling the plugs to find them covered in oil. Not the threads/tip, but where the ignition wire connects. Then when I look into the plug hole in the head, it has a pool of oil. (See photo)



I've been told to replace and check the seal on the valve cover, so I did that and it shouldn't be leaking at all. How else would oil be getting into the hole for the plug like this? It seems to be worse on cylinder 1 and 2 which are the plugs that are getting clogged due to the oil consumption. Anyone got any ideas? I'm already planning to replace and properly torque the HG it's just a matter of having the time to do so.

[SmokeE30]

The little rubber plugs for the rocker shaft leaking up front?

[cabriodster87]

Maybe you spill some when you filled?

[nickskater09]

The little rubber plugs for the rocker shaft leaking up front?

Not as far as I can see.

Maybe you spill some when you filled?

Nope, for this reason:

And as a revision, all plug holes have about the same residual amount of oil in them.

[Quadrajet]

Are your plugs oily or oil fouled? Does it smoke a little when you first start it?-could be bad valve seals or guides. Did you replace piston rings?-they may not have "set" yet.

Just a couple ideas off the top of my head.

[SmokeE30]

^ those won't cause oil on outside of the combustion chamber. I would say if it's in all the holes it has to be from the valve cover, clean it all up and then let it idle a bit and see if any oil is seeping out.

[Quadrajet]

It's possible if the plugs weren't torqued correctly. And the PO mentioned the valve cover seal, which I took to mean the gasket. But I'm not there either;)

[nickskater09]

When I said seal, I meant making sure all the old gasket was scraped off to ensure a proper seal with the new one. I put all new valve stem seals in it when I rebuilt it, but not new guides or piston rings.

I guess I will have to take a more solid look at the Valve Cover gasket.

[digger]

sometimes it is hard to seal the rocker cover gasket and you need to be very meticulous and use a flexible silicone sealer. other times just a gasket with no sealer works.