Alfa Pages

Guest · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:01 am Post subject: Oil leak or what

Went to service my Alfa last week and found that the HC level in the exhaust was too high. Mechanic suggested bent valves or timing belt not in position. We did the compression test and all cylinders were OK. But when removing the spark plugs from cylinders 2 and 4 found that the thread was oily on both cylinders. Could it be leaking head gasket or valve seal. Is it possible to tell what might be wrong before taking the cylinder head off.

Thanks

Nicko · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 1:28 pm Post subject:

It could simply be poorly tightened plugs. I had this on my old Abarth - you could see bubbles coming out from around the plugs where small amounts of oil were deposited - a friend merely re-threaded the plug threads with a sepcial tool and it was fine......although this would not be such an easy job with the boxer engine