420A Oil in spark plugs

[Jovanne4]

Good afternoon,
I have a 97 Eclipse GS. My timing belt pooped a few months back while driving and I am finally getting around to replacing the timing belt.
once I timed the engine and attempted to start the vehicle, all it makes is popping noises (misfire) and only stays on if I hold down the gas.
I removed the 1st cylinders spark plug cable and notice a bit of oil in the connector, I inspected the other cylinders and cylinders 2 and 3 were flooded with oil 4th looked like cylinder 1.

What should be my next plan of action? I do have another 420A engine that has a good head... what do you guys think??
Thank you in advance for any input.

 

[pauleyman]

Good afternoon,
I have a 97 Eclipse GS. My timing belt pooped a few months back while driving and I am finally getting around to replacing the timing belt.
once I timed the engine and attempted to start the vehicle, all it makes is popping noises (misfire) and only stays on if I hold down the gas.
I removed the 1st cylinders spark plug cable and notice a bit of oil in the connector, I inspected the other cylinders and cylinders 2 and 3 were flooded with oil 4th looked like cylinder 1.

What should be my next plan of action? I do have another 420A engine that has a good head... what do you guys think??
Thank you in advance for any input.

420a is interference. You likely have bent valves.

 

[Brian O Conner]

I wouldnt necessarily swap the engine just the heads and then rebuild the old one afterwards.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

What you're saying is that there's oil in the spark plug tubes? Right?
That's bad tube seals, which will usually come with a new valve cover gasket.

That kind of leak does cause misfires. But I'm also worried about damaged valves, because you gotta be pretty lucky not to encounter interference after a timing belt failure.
A compression test will show you what to do next.

Good compression = clean components and new seals
Bad compression = at least a top end rebuild

 

[thebearded1der]

Good afternoon,
I have a 97 Eclipse GS. My timing belt pooped a few months back while driving and I am finally getting around to replacing the timing belt.
once I timed the engine and attempted to start the vehicle, all it makes is popping noises (misfire) and only stays on if I hold down the gas.
I removed the 1st cylinders spark plug cable and notice a bit of oil in the connector, I inspected the other cylinders and cylinders 2 and 3 were flooded with oil 4th looked like cylinder 1.

What should be my next plan of action? I do have another 420A engine that has a good head... what do you guys think??
Thank you in advance for any input.

Remove the valve cover and replace the spark plug tube seals and valve cover gasket while you have the valve cover off. Amazon and Ebay have them.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Remove the valve cover and replace the spark plug tube seals and valve cover gasket while you have the valve cover off. Amazon and Ebay have them.

That's a good idea if nothing else is damaged. But he needs to check it first, there's no sense in doing that work on a head that needs to be rebuilt.

 

[thebearded1der]

That's a good idea if nothing else is damaged. But he needs to check it first, there's no sense in doing that work on a head that needs to be rebuilt.

Very good point. With that being said: have the engine inspected by a reputable mechanic to make sure it is otherwise in good condition. I made the mistake of assuming that had been done already.