Oil On Spark Plugs - Valve Cover Gasket?

[NyteEscape]

so i decided to do the usual 65k thing of plugs and oil change and a few filters. just did my timing belt on saturday and that turned out well.

today i did my oil/plugs/filters. when i was doing my plugs, i noticed a bit of oil on them. after reading around the forums that it may be a valve cover gasket, i started to get a bit paranoid. so i snapped a few pics to see if i could get your guys' opinion.

let me know what you think. if need be, i can try to take some pics with the plugs out and down inside the cylinders. well, as much as i can get.

it was mainly cylinder 1 and two that had it. 3 and 4 seemed normal to me.









any ideas?

[CO AVANT]

ewwwhhh. yeah valve cover gasket. ~$25 to replace and takes no time to do it. Bunch of 10mm bolts, allen heads, and a couple hose clamps... Get yourself a tube of audi sealant as well and scrape off any old residue before applying new sealant to the transitions around the outer mating surfaces of the valve cover.

[n7plus1]

yep, just the gaskets...do it up

[Kurt Koseck]

Just spent two weeks dealing with oil around the spark plugs on my 98 A4 2.8 30 v (180,000 miles). Seems like gaskets is the obvious answer, however my experince would say look further. I found that my PCV hoses were plugged solid. I suspect that this caused the valve covers to 'pressurize' and this made oil blow past the gasket. New PCV tubing costs $80.
I had the valve covers 'hot-tanked' to make sure that all crud was out of there. I put the silicone on the gasket and on the head, as it is difficult to get silicone on the rear ends of the heads.

[NyteEscape]

Just spent two weeks dealing with oil around the spark plugs on my 98 A4 2.8 30 v (180,000 miles). Seems like gaskets is the obvious answer, however my experince would say look further. I found that my PCV hoses were plugged solid. I suspect that this caused the valve covers to 'pressurize' and this made oil blow past the gasket. New PCV tubing costs $80.
I had the valve covers 'hot-tanked' to make sure that all crud was out of there. I put the silicone on the gasket and on the head, as it is difficult to get silicone on the rear ends of the heads.

definitely will take that into consideration. i'll check it out tomorrow morning.

in the meantime, anyone know the part number for the gasket cover?..might as well see if i can pick one up from the dealership.