Plug Galley

[sean210]

The Galley as I have heard it be called on my motor is being filled with oil. There for my plugs are not recieveing current. Makes it struggle to run and have very poor throttle response. I was told that its just a valve cover gasket leak. Which is minor. Im just wondering could it be something serious. The motor has 234,000 miles.

 

[wchico15]

mines was leaking oil and coolant. i replaced the valves gaskets and the coolant was leaking from one of the coolant lines on the throttle body. just replace the valve gaskets and while your at it (if you havent) replace the spark plugs,plug wires. hope this helps

 

[sean210]

mines was leaking oil and coolant. i replaced the valves gaskets and the coolant was leaking from one of the coolant lines on the throttle body. just replace the valve gaskets and while your at it (if you havent) replace the spark plugs,plug wires. hope this helps

Will do.
Thanks for the help.

Do you of any other common promblems with this motor
I should be aware of?

 

[Tire Shredder]

Will do.
Thanks for the help.

Do you of any other common promblems with this motor
I should be aware of?

I believe he meant the valve COVER gaskets, would be the cause of the galley full of oil.

 

[BlackDynamite]

Do you of any other common promblems with this motor
I should be aware of?

headgasket

 

[Figit090]

Do you of any other common promblems with this motor
I should be aware of?

rodknock



just make sure your oil level is good, in fact its not bad to run one extra quart of oil.

I agree, valve cover gaskets commonly go bad and leak oil everywhere.

 

[CRE]

On the GTE an extra quart doesn't hurt, on a N/A it does cause a noticable difference when starting up... I don't think I'd recommend more than a 1/2 quart over on an N/A.

Also, a good galley gasket (valve cover #3, IIRC) will help prevent oil leaking past the other gasketas from getting in the spark plug galley.

 

[Figit090]

On the GTE an extra quart doesn't hurt, on a N/A it does cause a noticable difference when starting up... I don't think I'd recommend more than a 1/2 quart over on an N/A.

Also, a good galley gasket (valve cover #3, IIRC) will help prevent oil leaking past the other gasketas from getting in the spark plug galley.

what is the noticeable difference? is it bad? i run a quart over nobody EVER specified GTE's only....

and yeah the 3rd middle plate that covers the galley would, with the proper spark plug wires, help keep oil out. but IIRC it's rather expensive to get a new one. in light of that i cleaned mine up, removed the cracked plastic and reinstalled it. the edges of it turned to dust...

 

[CRE]

From my own experience I've found my car starts rougher, doesn't seem to rev as freely and makes the one oil leak I have at the moment MUCH worse until I'm down to about 1/2 quart over full.... so, I'd speculate that much more than a half over (which is what I run now) is liable to put too much pressure on the oil seals and gives the crank a whole lot more resistance to deal with.... then there the wonderful possibility of foaming. The GTE's oil is spread out through a much larger network than the N/A, it's only natural that it would have some more space for excess oil. If you're happy with running a quart over and haven't noticed any ill effects, then go with it.

If the galley gasket isn't sealing you might as well just leave it out... easier to clean out the galley without it. Just make sure your plug wires are in good shape as the boot fits into the cover and may help prevent old connectors from coming away from the plug.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Every stock 87-92 MK3 will have:

Oil in plug wells
Blown head gasket
Stripped exhaust manifold studs
Blocked EGR passages
Leaking clutch master cylinder (if manual transmission)
Eroded cylinder head coolant passages

Anything else I missed?

If new valve cover gaskets do not stop the oil from appearing in the plug gallery, your Number 3 cylinder head cover needs to be replaced.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

I think the purpose of running an extra quart is for those late night (or day) runs, that sound and look like the driver is psychotic, when you are exerting significant lateral G's while accelerating at high RPM, and what little oil is left in the pan gets sloshed away from the pickup area, so you do not get rod knock.