One of the more common issues found in the 3.0 liter version of the Ford Taurus is oil in your spark plug galley. This is caused from the breakdown of your spark plug seals in your Taurus valve cover gasket. There’s two sets of valve cover gasket in your Ford Taurus engine, and two sets of three spark plug gaskets as well.
Over time this valve cover gasket set will break down and oil can leak from the top of your cylinder heads. Common Ford Taurus issues include oil leaking down into the spark plug tube. When this happens there’s a good chance that the oil will prevent your engine from igniting the combustion chamber properly.
Engine oil leaking down into your spark plug tubes can compromise your spark intensity. Left uncorrected it can also cause engine misfire and lack of power and engine efficiency. Today I’ll be showing you how to fix oil leaking into your Ford Taurus spark plug tube, and installing a replacement valve cover gasket.
Our test Ford Taurus is suffering from oil leaking from the valve cover and spark plug gaskets. The oil is building up and stopping cylinder 4 and 5 from firing correctly. If you need a guide on how to remove your intake manifold and reach your back 3 cylinders, check our guide here.
Before you begin this guide it’s a good idea to disconnect the battery to prevent any electrical shorts or accidents.
Pull out your spark plug wires carefully and inspect the spark plug tubes. If it’s flooded with oil do your best to clean up by inserting a rag down the spark plug tube.
Finish removing all the spark plug wires for the bank of your 3.0 liter Taurus engine. When installing your Taurus valve cover gasket, you’ll need a black tube of High Temp RTV gasket maker.
Disconnect the PCV valve and the metal tube that leads to your valve cover. This tube should head directly into your Ford Taurus intake tract after your Ford Taurus MAF sensor.
Now undo the 8mm bolts that are holding the Duratec drive belt guide in place. This guide is what has the 3.0 liter 24 valve letters stamped on it.
Remove this cover and then you’ve got to remove the wiring guides on the left hand valve cover posts.
Pull up to remove this tab, and to expose the 10mm valve cover post.
Don’t forget to undo the bottom left hand side bolt as well.
Now that you have all of the Ford Taurus valve cover bolts exposed, you can start removing the bolts one at a time. Start with the 10mm bolts located in the middle of your 3.0 liter valve cover. Once those middle 10mm bolts are removed, you can move to the outer bolts, start with the upper left hand side first.
The lower left unit is slightly obscured by the wiring harness, make sure to adjust to get the proper clearance.
Once you have all the posts and Taurus valve cover bolts removed, you can take off the valve cover. Now you can start cleaning off the top of the cylinder head, and make sure to use a razor blade to scrape off the excess gasket maker.
Take care around the spark plug tubes, and scrape off the valve cover gasket around the corners of the Taurus valve cover. These areas usually have a lot of buildup and will take some extra cleaning to get your cylinder head prepped.
Once you have this gasket removed and the cylinder head surface cleaned, scrub with acetone. You want the surface that the new Taurus valve cover gasket will be mounted to be as clean as humanly possible.
Install the new Taurus valve cover gasket by laying it into your valve cover first. Continue to rub around the mounting surfaces to keep your gasket maker tacky but still wet.
When you are ready carefully lay down the new valve cover and valve cover gasket. Once you’ve got it in place install the valve cover bolts and snug them up.
Once you have the new Taurus valve cover gasket reinstalled and the valve cover in place, simply reinstall your spark plug wires.
Once you are done you have now fixed your valve cover leaking oil into your spark plug tube. Allow the gasket maker to dry for a few hours before starting your Ford Taurus again. If you need to find the best place to purchase a new Taurus valve cover gasket, click here for our online store.
Have any questions about your Ford Taurus or want more tech tips and How To Guides? Subscribe to My Pro Street to get all the latest in automotive news.