I was changing my spark plugs on my 03 max and noticed that in spark plug valve 4 the stem from the valve cover had oil on its tip, although no oil was pooling within the valve itself. I then removed the spark plug and the tip was also very oily. What is the problem here and what can I do to fix it? The car runs fine with only 61,000 miles and no engine check light. Will the spark plug continue to perform efficiently or can it lead to any other problems?

 

Bump.....Im doing my plugs in the near future....i have about the same mileage. Im interested in what to do if I come across the same proble.

 

I had very similar situation on my 2003 Maxima SE. I did the spark plugs at 70k miles. One of them was kind of oily and wet. Car runs just fine.
I asked the forum and some of the responses were that the spark plug was not installed properly and that i should not worry if there are no problems/oil leak/warning lights and etc. I have put almost 10k miles since then i have no problems with the car. Not sure if the new spark plug is dry or not, since i can't reach it unless i remove everything again.

 

Check to see if you're burning oil before you hit 75k. If so, you have the dreaded oil consumption issue. Good news: if you push it with the dealership, you can get a brand-new engine for that! Bad news: if it's not fixed, you'll be in my shoes: a quart for every gas fill-up.