Question about my problem?

[LiLGhettoSmurf]

I noticed that my gasket for the valve cover is leaking and its getting oil in my plug wells, would this be causing my trouble starting, when I have trouble I have to gas it alittle to keep it going, if I dont it will stall all out, or during normal driving it some times misfires for alittle, then will go back to normal. Same with starting it will be harsh then level out after a minute.

 

[NiNeTy Fo SHO]

I wouldnt suspect the oil as the cause for these problems. I would be looking more at the IAC/IAB valve or soemthing along those lines. If the car doesn idle or you have to hit the gas to start it, then its not getting air. When you press the gas pedal, you are realling opening the throttle body.

 

[sdpatt]

The oil in the spark plug wells is leaking past the plug well seals. The six plug well seals can be found in the Fel-Pro VS50378R valve cover gasket set that also includes the two valve cover seals for $71.99 from AutoZone.com.

Are you seeing a CHECK ENGINE light? If not, the misfire is caused by the plugs or wires. The misfire you are experiencing is possibly caused by the oil in the plug wells, but it is likely caused by incorrect/old spark plugs or incorrect/old spark plug wires.

The idle air control (idle air bypass) valve will not cause a misfire.

 

[LiLGhettoSmurf]

I do happen to get a CE light, last time I went their the people at auto zone said it rang up as a 332 code, which means the EGR valve is clogged / not working right, but my friend said something after looking down at my plugs and seeing the oil in their that might be the problem, im gunna have a diagnostic run because the CE light stays on for about 4 seconds then goes off, one time while i was pulling into autozone the light came on while it was freaking out, so I turned my car off quick and had them run it. And i dont even know if the people at Autozone got the right code anyways, the person writing it down seemed like she had no idea what she was doing, at first she was writing them down as 2 digit codes, when mine are 3.

 

[luigisho]

The oil is not supposed to be there. It will eventually cause all manner of ignition problems and ruin the wires. sdpatt gives excellent advice and you should follow it.

 

[shoteen95]

tackling the valve cover gaskets and plug well seals isnt a terribly hard thing to do..just takes a little bit of time if you're not used to tearing into these motors (i know it was an all day event for me).

If you have a couple hundred bucks lying around. I'd look into the gasket kit mentioned above, as well as new motorcraft plugs and wires. IAC's are relatively cheap, and it sounds like that should take care of the idle problem at start up.

Check out this link for a nice detailed step-through guide for doing an upper 60k. Includes directions on intake removal, valve cover gasket and plug well seal replacement, as well as valve shim replacement (which i'll admit, i did not do even though my car had about 68,000 at the time).

http://www.shophoenixproject.com/upper60k/upper60k.htm

Also, you dont need to take your car to autozone whenever the check engine light comes on. Checking them yourself can easily be dont with just a paperclip.
http://www.shophoenixproject.com/eec/eec.htm

 

[LiLGhettoSmurf]

ok im gunna go do that then, my plug's right now are brand spanking new autolites the dealer I bought it from must of put in, guess he didnt feal like replacing the gaskets.