Date:         Mon, 22 Apr 96 15:10:34 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu>
Subject:      oil? leak on #3 (but not quite)

Hey all,
I've recently noticed ('78, 2.0L) what seems to be oil appearing on the
cooling air duct around the spark plug seal on the #3 cylinder.  It
seems to be coming out from under the seal and is running toward the
front of the bus.  It's not a gusher or anything, just enough to leave a
small film on the duct.  

So today I pulled the #3 spark plug and to my relief the plug was
completely dry and was in the "normal" range describe in the Haynes
manual.  The spark plug wire (the part under the seal, inside the
cooling duct) was covered with what appeared to be oil.  Kinda greasy
and nasty.  

Since I'm not getting any blow-by on the spark plug and there's no oil
fouling of the plug, where is this oil coming from??

I know the oil cooler is right behind the #3 cylinder and I have a
sneaking suspicion that something is leaking back there and is being
blown forward where it comes out from under the spark plug seal.  So,
someone out there please tell me that this is not the case and that it's
something much simpler :) .  Then tell me the truth.

Any ideas, anybody?  Anybody experience something similar?

Thanks in advance.

Sean