Replies to post #3755 on Cars, etc. (GEARHEAD)

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

I'd put it at about 80% that it's the CPS.

If it were my car, I'd consider the CPS replacement a no-brainer, but I'd also go the extra expense of doing the valve-cover gasket and plugs and wires. Unless I were just trying to keep it alive another year.

If that's your aim, you should take out all of the spark plugs to let the oil drain into the cylinders, crank it for about 5 seconds (WITHOUT the spark plugs) so you don't have a big pool of oil in the cylinders, put the plugs back in, and check occasionally so you can see just how bad the valve cover gasket leak is. It might be slow enough that it'll take months before the oil gets deep enough to cause problems again.

I can't overstate the importance of cranking it without the plugs in if you go the shade-tree route to get rid of the oil around the plugs. Liquids do NOT compress and when you try to make them do so, bad things like bent connecting rods can happen.

Alternatively, you could use a shop towel wrapped around a screw-driver to patiently wick the oil out of the spark plug wells with the plugs still in.