Ive been in the process of replacing my plugs and it had turned out to be far more complicated and I recently posted a thread about the stuck plug, took it to a mechanic and he says hes close to getting it out so that's good. Only problem now is that in the process of replacing them I dropped the gasket/seal that goes at the top of the spark plug tube sealing the coil pack to the head (I think) and I searched for a while with no luck and now believe it to be lost forever. I looked online to try and find parts and that led me to drive all the way to the middle of Trenton NJ, not a fun place, to go to a Napa where they told me they had the right part. Turned out they didn't so now I'm left trying to find one somewhere close by as I need to drive back to school tomorrow or the next day, school is in KS so its a long drive. My question now is whether or not the dealer is likely to have that, mine said you had to get the whole coil pack to get one, and if not if there is somewhere that would or something that could be a stand in for the drive till I find a new one. Also, what do they actually do? Is it just seal from water and if so could I potentially drive for a little without it?

 

If I understand the situation your are describing (and I may not be ) Lexus should stock the tube seals as separate parts. The plugs/coils pass through the valve covers and the tube seals are mounted in the valve covers and act as seals to stop oil from leaking out around the spark plug tube.

 

Awesome, Ill give them a call again tomorrow, it may have been that I wasnt explaining myself correctly. Thanks Jabberwock, you've been a life saver today.

 

I changed my valve cover on the DS recently. All was well for a month. I noticed the smell of oil again so took a look. I noticed oil on the top of the valve cover. I pulled the coil pack and found oil down in the spark plug tube. I did not replace the tube seals when I changed the valve cover.

My question is,...what have I ruined by allowing oil to get down where the spark plug is?? I did not remove the spark plug as I did not want oil to get in the combustion chamber.

 

I spoke with my Lexus independent mechanic this morning. He did not seem overly concerned with the oil in the spark plug tube. He told me to use napkins to get the oil out as prolonged exposure of the coil pack rubber on the bottom to the oil could degrade the rubber.

He just told me that I needed to replace the tube seals. Not excited about having to remove the valve cover again but after just doing it...it's not all that difficult. I made an appointment with him in case I don't have time to get to it.

Hope this information can help out someone on the forum in the future.

 

You did not drop the spark plug tube seal. you would have to have the valve cover off to get to that. you dropped the insulator on the coil pack. comes with a coil pack. you could try and get lucky and see if a dealer tech has a failed coil pack and grab the insulator off of it. They replace coil packs all the time. The purpose of that piece is to insulate the coil pack from some of the engine heat and vibrations. it will probably be ok until you can find one. worst case is you'll need a new coil pack.

 

This thread was brought waaaaaaay back from the dead. I ended up getting some heat resistant silicone and cutting a ring in it the same general shape as the old seal. I checked it out on there and it was the correct thickness and everything worked right with a good seal and its been going strong for over a year. If anyone loses one of these in the future good lucking finding a new one. I searched for a while and the only thing I could find was a new coil pack.

 

I bought all eight new ones form the dealer without any problem. I am however still getting oil in my spark plug tubes and do not understand why. I am beginning to suspect the coil packs as it is very easy for the top mount(only a single mount to valve cover) to crack and allow there to be less pressure holding the compression on the insulator and therefore allowing oil to get in there.. It could be because of 230+k miles...lots of heat cycles. As an fyi, I just replaced my cam seals(no tutorial on this) and you have to pull the cams(all 4) to replace the seals(2). You then have to take the intake cams apart to remove the old seal. You could still see the cross-hatch(machining marks) in the journals the cams rested in. I think that is pretty amazing considering there is over 230,000 miles on the car/engine.

 

What's the process for changing the spark plug tube seals? I haven't found any pictures yet, but I'll keep searching.

 

After removing the valve cover, you have to bend the 4 tabs back to remove the spark plug tube seals, replace and bend them back. With new spark plug tube seals, its a very snug fit placing everything back.

I didn't have a SST, but having a big a$$ screwdriver helped quite a bit.