Hey guys. So when I purchased my r50 last summer (its a 2004) I took it into a private mini mechanic to have a once over done so I knew what to expect. It was in great shape considering it only had 53k miles. The only thing really wrong with it was a few corrosion issues because it lived in a beach town. In particular a terminal on the coil pack had some significant corrosion. The mechanic said I should replace it in the next one to two years. So fast forward to today and I went down to my local parts store to get the coil pack, a new set of wires and some plugs (ngk iridium). After pulling my hair out over the stupid design of the stock coil pack (the bolts have the sleeve integrated so the stock bolts won't fit into an aftermarket coil pack) I decided to just replace the plugs/wires while I waited for a new coil pack to get special ordered. While I was replacing the plugs I discovered that one of them (2nd from the left) had oil residue covering the plug boot. The plug also had residue down to about half way down the threads but it didn't penitrate into the electrode itself. What does this mean? It was running fine before with no smoke or funny smells. Should I be worried? Thanks for the input guys!

 

Look at this:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2004-C...Seals/ES18480/

These are the round seals for the spark plug tubes,.. I haven't looked into it, but I bet you have to remove the cam cover to install them, so you'll need that gasket too.

I'm curious what others think about this, but I don't think it's causing much harm. My Honda has had the valve cover leaking oil into the sparkplug tubes for years. It was fixed twice by the dealer while under warranty, but I never fixed it again after that, cause I didn't figure the repair would last anyway.

 

Hey Alex, TYVM for the reply. This looks like what I'm dealing with. Glad to see its not super ecpensive. Just need to find the time to pull the valve cover. I'm curious if its doing any harm as well. If not I may just put it off till next summer.

 

Longer term, the oil may bake/coke....and make the plugs stick....but in the medium term, think you are fine. Just be sure to install the spark plugs with a tq wrench...they have a nasy habitbof getting spit out in a mini....

 

Valve Cover gasket consists of the outer edge gasket and the 4 separate gaskets for the spark plug tunnels you are correct.

To change them, remove valve cover and insert a socket into the tunnel ( Can't remember what size ) to basically punch out the old ones....works better than trying to pry them out. They should always be changed with the outer gasket IMO. Stagnant fluids there will trap dirt over time then when you change the plug(s) all that crap will drip down into the cylinder(s)....

 

Why wait, it is really an easy task.
Maybe two hours if you really take your time. Nothing difficult except don't over tighten the bolts and crack the valve cover.
Just saying.