Oil Leak - Cylinder #1

[KevinH1990]

I changed the spark plugs on my 2000 non-S this weekend.

I had seen some oil under the right (passenger side in the U.S.) rear of the car and suspected a bad O-ring. When I pulled the coil pack off of cylinder #1 it had oil on it and the inside of the tube was oily.

I had the transom plug recommended in Pedro's Garage DIY instructions, but I could not remove the tube. It is in an awkward position at the front of the engine and I could not tighten it enough to stay in. All the oil in the tube may have contributed to the problem.

Here are my questions:

1. Based on the amount of oil shown on the side of the engine in the attached picture, do you think I could have a cracked spark plug tube instead of just bad O-rings? The picture shows cylinder #3 with the coil pack removed. I didn't take a picture of cylinder 1.

2. Could there be another source of the oil? I replaced the oil filler tube about 3 years ago, and some of the oil could be left over from that.

3. Should I just buy a spark plug tube and plan to replace the one I have?

4. Is there any method other than the transom plug for removing the spark plug tubes? If I'm replacing the entire tube I guess I don't have to worry too much about cracking the existing one when I remove it.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.