Greetings,
I just picked up a 2003 with 63K miles on it. It's in good shape.
There are no visible leaks under the car but there is a smell as if there is some seepage onto the exhaust manifold(s).
Could the plastic valve covers be suspect?
I've read the
spark plug coils can be a problem on these. I do not see them mounted anywhere.
Would the
coils be under the inspection cover that are on the valve covers.
That's it for now, Thank in advance for all replies.
Since you have an oil burning smell with no visible leaks under the car or any seepage on the exhaust manifolds, I would definitely remove the
ignition coils and inspect for oil in the
spark plug wells.
To remove the
ignition coils make sure you have all the right tools handy. A
deep well 7 mm socket, a regular
7 mm socket, an extension, a
7 mm open/closed-end wrench, a screwdriver, and a small flashlight.
Remove the
engine cover, unscrew the two black plastic slotted screws at the front of the cover and remove them. Pop the front of the cover up and gently push the rear of the cover upwards to remove it from the mounting stems.
Identify the
coil covers on the right and left sides of the engine. They are secured by six screws.
- Using a 7mm socket and driver break loose the four screws on the cover. There are two at the front and two in the center.
- Using a 7 mm wrench, break loose the two screws at the rear of the cover closest to the windshield. The upper one can probably be taken out with a regular socket, but I used a wrench and once it was loose I turned it out by hand. The lower one is a pain, but it will come loose once you take a few turns on it with the wrench.
- Take out the six screws and put them in a safe place and gently remove the cover taking care not to scrape the gasket material.
- Unclip the connector to the coil pack by squeezing the right rear of the connector and pull it loose. Using your 7 mm socket, unscrew the bolt holding the coil pack in place. Then just pull the coil pack off of the spark plug and remove with the bolt unthreaded it will pull up very easily.
Since the car has 65,000 miles and you are removing all the
ignition coils to check for oil or water contamination, if it were my car, I would replace all of the
coils and the
spark plugs too.
There are two main reasons the
ignition coils fail early; water/moisture/condensation or oil are the two reasons. The extreme high energy being produced for the
spark plugs doesn't like oil, water, moisture, or condensation as it causes an arc to the grounded motor and kills the
coil over time.
If you have oil on your
ignition coils, a defective
valve cover gasket is the reason why. This was a bigger issue with 2002 T-Birds, but just the same if you find oil on the boots it is a leaking
valve cover gasket.
If you find water or moisture in the
spark plug/ignition
coil wells, the water is getting in from under the
cowl seal or getting past the wiper seal. Replace the
cowl seal and the
wiper motor seal.
doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue
