I have a 2000 Ford Expedition with 147000 miles, 5.4l engine, automatic, . Has been running great then I got a mis on cylinder #2 scanned to find this. Swapped coil with #1 and all seemed fine. Then it came back so I took out the two plugs to swap and there was a lot of oil around the base of both plug holes. Especially #1. Cleaned it all up and gapped the plugs before putting all back. Runs fine now. Figured the oil must have been fouling the plug. Everyone says the valve cover must be leaking since I am not burning oil. Has passed the smog test recently (Calif.). Taking these valve covers off is almost impossible. What do you recommend as a way to seal the gaskets? I tried tightening the valve cover bolts/nuts but they are all tight. I am ordering new boots for the coils to keep any oil away from the plugs. Your thoughts.
What do you recommend as a way to seal the gaskets?
Replacement is the only way to fix a valve cover gasket leak.
I agree with @chucktobias. You’d need to replace the gasket or live with it. I wouldn’t try adding any extraneous chemicals to the oil to try to stop the leak, and external fixes (like caulking with RTV) is unlikely to help, and would be extremely difficult to do anyway.
