Water in the plug tube!

[zr271cuda]

Well like it says I had water in one of the spark plug tubes in the head. The past couple days my MM has be running like CRAP. Idling rough and no power. So I started by cleaning the MAF the the IAC and those didn't help. I remembered some of you talking about the COPS so I started by unplugging them one by one on the drivers side. The driver side check out fine. When I got to the pass side I started from the front to the back. Well the (not sure what cylinder # it is) second cylinder from the firewall on the pass side, the plug boot had this "crusty" back carbon stuff on it and the tube walls were very dirty unlike the rest of the cylinders. It also had this oil stain on the coil cover right above that coil. That coil/plug checks out other than crusty oily stain. I move to the last cylinder on that side and there is about an inch of water in the tube, so I figure that is my problem. I pump out the water and put it all back together.

So my questions are as follows:
1. Did the water screw up the coil in the last cylinder?
2. Why is the second cylinder head tube from the firewall so dirty and oily?
Is it cause the cam cover o-ring is bad, and if so haw hard is it to change the pass side cam cover seals.

[tbone]

You have a leak in the cover that caused that cylinder to misfire. Did you recently wash the engine?

[jdando]

Hi ZR271!

I had a similar situation a few months ago. The car was running terrible, missing under acceleration, no power. I checked the fuel filter, air filter and then the plugs.

I actually had one of my plugs loosen up and the blow-by combustion gas condensed in the "spark plug tube" of the next cylinder. The offending plug had a nasty brown/gunky growth on the electrode. I replaced all the plugs, torqued to spec and crossed my fingers. It took a day or two for the coil on plug to dry out, but it did and all is well.

To answer your questions;
1. Probably not, let it dry out and it should work
2. Condensed combustion gas from loose spark plug from nearby cylinder
3. No, I do not know.

Check your plugs and see if one is loose.

That was my experience and your symptoms sound very similar.

[zr271cuda]

No I haven't washed the engine in a while, but it has rained here a lot in the past week or so.

So you are saying that the coil cover is loose letting water in?

So as for the cylinder with the crusty crap on it is that the loose plug?
Does the o-ring that seals the plug tubes to the cam covers commonly go bad or is the brown stain on the coil covers from the loose plug?
Today is going to be the last kinda warm day so Im going to try to get the problem fixed today.

[Blackened300a]

No I haven't washed the engine in a while, but it has rained here a lot in the past week or so.

So you are saying that the coil cover is loose letting water in?

So as for the cylinder with the crusty crap on it is that the loose plug?
Does the o-ring that seals the plug tubes to the cam covers commonly go bad or is the brown stain on the coil covers from the loose plug?
Today is going to be the last kinda warm day so Im going to try to get the problem fixed today.

You're supposed to use a little silicone around the rubber under the coil to prevent water from getting it, it's common to happen, but not all the time unless you washed the engine and the waters has been sitting in there rusting away.
I had a little rust stain on cylinder #2 due to moisture. The rubber donut can go bad, but you would have oil down in the plug hole. If your plug is loose (which is common) it will misfire and arc in the cylinder, the brown stain could be from the arcing. When my plug backed out which wore away the boot and arced against the inside of the cam cover, I actually charred the bottom of my coil cover and melted some of the black tape on the harness. Check the plugs and the condition of the boots.

[rayjay]

In picture #3 you can clearly see there is not enough rubber seal at the rear on the "hump" and I would suspect thats where the water is getting in. Sealing that up should help with the water problem. I would replace that boot that was all nasty. For that matter not a bad time to go to aftermarket COP connectors.

[zr271cuda]

Just got done replacing plugs and boots all the way around. Jdando you were right the plug with all the carbon build up was loose. I think the water in the back cylinder was from compression condensation because after I dried everything out yesterday and the little bit I had to drive last night everything was wet this morning.

So everything is running smooth now. Thanks to all that chimed in and helped out. :burnout:

[ctrlraven]

In picture #3 you can clearly see there is not enough rubber seal at the rear on the "hump" and I would suspect thats where the water is getting in. Sealing that up should help with the water problem. I would replace that boot that was all nasty. For that matter not a bad time to go to aftermarket COP connectors.
^^^^This.

I took some black rtv and made a good seal around the covers on both sides.

[zr271cuda]

^^^^^ Yes I did put some RTV around the hump at the rear just incase some water is getting in that way also. :)