Old? oil on coil packs. Current VC gasket issue, residue from old issue or something

[peb]

I was going to swap in rev E coil packs and new (1 step colder) plugs tonight, but ran into a surprise.

I have what I assume to be oil on my current coil packs and in the holes they go into.

However, it is really sticky, even stickier than syrup.

Relevant history:

I bought the car about 10k miles ago as a CPO, and I don't know the full history.

I pulled my pcv a few thousand miles ago and put in an rai catch can. I did not mess with the check valve in the rear pcv.

I put in a quart of oil the other day after the light came on, so with a mix of pre and post catch can, I burned about a quart in ~3.5 miles.


Questions:

1) If the oil is so sticky, does that imply that it is old and just wasn't cleaned up after a previous vc gasket replacement?

2) if no, is the solution just a vc gasket replacement?

3) in either case, I read someplace else (after searching :) to take the plugs out and spray out the holes with brake cleaner. Is that ok to let go down into the engine along with the sticky residue??

4) I'm scared to pull my vc.. While it sounds easy, that's the most I will have ever exposed an engine. Can I borrow someone's man card? :)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Oh, here are some pics in case they tell the story better:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/15/me8uqemy.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/15/uzebu9yg.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/15/du8y7ese.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/15/tagu6ama.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/15/dupumeha.jpg

[Capt213]

Sub'd. I have the same buildup. Curious to see what you turn up.

[DRAKLORE]

Not a big deal,
That's barely any oil, you could change your gasket because that is the likely culprit..

1-oil is old
2-yes
3- yes
4- it's not scary

[peb]

Not a big deal,
That's barely any oil, you could change your gasket because that is the likely culprit..

1-oil is old
2-yes
3- yes
4- it's not scary

Thanks! Then I'm going to clean up what is there, swap in the new packs and check them in a few weeks. (Operating under the assumption that the vc gasket might have already been changed and this is left over from that.) If it re-appears, I'll man up and change the gasket :)

[MedicCarter]

I have the same stuff but less oil residue than you. No issues no oil loss smoke or any other problems.

[peb]

My car did NOT want to start and was pretty grumpy on first start after I cleaned the coil pack/spark plug wells with brake cleaner. I had to give it some gas to get it going, and even then it started up pretty slowly. At first I thought I didn't seat the packs right or something.. Once it did start, a little white smoke came out of the engine bay.

Anyway, other than that this went pretty smoothly. So, to anyone that ends up cleaning the residue with brake cleaner, expect a rough start.

[DRAKLORE]

Yeah, normally you would want to take out all the plugs, spray in the cleaner and let it sit/evaporate for maybe and hour. Then put in the plugs and proceed.

Spraying in the ports and dropping the coils on top can cause the coil to short out.