Good morning guys. As you may recall I posted a thread a long time ago regaring the issue of my engine quickly ruining spark plugs for cylinders 3 and 6. As A reminder I have a 2000 Mustang 3.8 with everything stock.

About 2 weeks ago the car started missing badly again and I put another set of plugs in it and put a fuel filter in the PCV line as I have heard others do. After this, the egine would smoke gray and smell like something burning when started. It was also misfiring quite a bit. At the last oil change it had burnt about 2 quart of oil in 3,000 miles.

So, I pulled the intakes and heads. Both intakes were full of oil and carbon and the head was the same. Oil would slowly run of of the ports and it looked just like clean oil from the jug. The odd part is that the two cylinders that ruined spark plugs were the cleanest. I have attached photos.

What casued this? Was it really all from the PCV and the faulty valve cover design? Was the lower intake manifold gasket leaking? Possible blown head gastket? Plugged oil ring in cylinders? The rest of the motor is very clean and there is no clear sign that any of the above were the issue. The cylinder walls still look great too.

Does anyone have any experience here or insight?

 

OK, my photos will not upload. So, I have posted an album in my profile with some pics. Sorry.

 

i would have put on the proper pcv. sounds like that where the oil comes from if the manifold gasket is good. if it still misses look in to the coil function. shorts to ground inside the coil or on coil power wire maybe?

 

Looks like 'normal' build up on an old motor. It's mostly carbon from the good 'ol EGR valve recirculating exhaust gases back into the engine for emissions purposes.

 

Thank you for the replies. I did expect some build up in the intakes, but the clean light brown oil slowly spilling from the intake was a concern. Maybe it was all from the dysfunctional baffel in the original valve cover. When I get it back together I will check the coil pack. That is a good idea.