Sup guys? I'm brand new to the forum. My next door neighbor has an 01 and told me this is the place to be for monte carlo owners.

It's been a long 3 weeks for me and my 05.

First, my check engine light came on for the first time ever, and showed that I had a misfire in cylinder 1. The new plugs (ac delco) and wires had only been in for about 6 months, so I was sure that wasn't the problem.

After checking everything except plugs and wires, i finally pulled the plug out of cylinder 1. Low and behold, the plug had OIL on it. I was devastated. On top of that my fuel regulator had been steadily leaking gas onto a wire/cable.

I put non-fouler on the plug until i could figure out what to do about the oil. While pulling into my home that day, I was waiting for the gate to open, and noticed a faint plume of smoke trickling from under the hood. I got out and popped the hood, and guess what...FIRE! I immediately dropped the hood and called the fire dept, while collecting extinguishers from neighbors. It thought my car was a goner. I was just waiting for the "boom."

Thank God I was sitting still waiting for the gate. If I had been driving even 10 mph, I don't think I would've saw the smoke, and who knows what could have happened.

Anyway, the fire went out before the fire dept got there, and I got my car towed to a nearby shop. The fire damage wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. It was fixed.

Now, I still need to tackle the oil in cylinder 1. Can anyone give suggestions on where it could be coming from or what's causing it?

Sorry for the long read. Thanks in advance.

 

It could be simple, like a bad PCV. PCV would be the cheapest fix, but also probably least likely. Could be a bad valve or valve guide, bad rings. You could try a compression test before you start tearing things down or having things replaced.

 

My first guess would be the rings. How many miles does the car have on it?

 

I have 143,000 on it. If that is the case, would I be looking at an expensive repair job?

 

The most common thing I see is valve guide seals. Heads would have to come off. Engine needs tore down to do rings.

 

Any time you have to pay someone to look INTO an engine block, it's not going to be cheap.

 

Exactly what I don't need, especially after spending a good bit of $$ getting the fire damage fixed.

 

Is the spark plug actually oil fouled, or is there just oil on the outer shell and threads? The oil on it could be from the leak (that started the fire) and the misfire could be caused by oil or fuel soaking into the plug wire. It could also cause the plug to become fouled because it wasn't firing correctly. Find out where the oil leak is coming from (probably the valve cover gasket) and fix it, fix the fuel leak and replace the plug wire that the fuel was leaking onto. If you still have problems then (as Mike 00LS mentioned) do a dry/wet compression test or a cylinder leak down test to determine if there is a leak and where it is.

 

i would fix the fuel leak and replace the valve cover gaskets to have that peace of mind. then if it happends again with that spacific plug fouling out there is some thing more needed to be fixed. i would also replace the pcv valves as well before thinking it is some thing sereus. it could have been some thing wiered like a pcv valve and/or valve cover gaskets that could be the oil culperet. i would fix fast the fuel leak dont want anouther engine fire.

 

The fire was the result of a leaky fuel regulator on the front of the motor, and was unrelated to the oil in the cylinder. Thankfully, I was able to get the fire damage fixed, it just cost me a few $$.

I still have the misfire in cylinder 1 and the check engine light is on. I checked it a couple days ago, and there was some oil on the threads and sides of the non-fouler.