Oil in sparkplug sockets ?

[lee36]

Here's one that's got me... A buddy of mine is rebuilding his ZX11 that was laid over by his son ( son's ok but the bike ... not so good)... anyway when pulling off the tank he figured now would be a good time to go through plugs, filter, etc... Turns out each plug socket has a bit of pure "clean" oil in each socket.

Any ideas why that would be the case? This isn't burt/used oil that passed through threads when running... I thought maybe the owner before him dropped some oil in there to keep plugs from rusting but otherwise have no idea.

 

[RavenFZ1]

There are pretty much only two sources for oil in the spark plug wells. Either the oil was accidentally (or purposely?!) poured in there, or the valve cover gasket is leaking. Even if the oil looks pretty clean, it may have leaked past the gasket soon after a fresh oil change.

 

[TRM]

There are pretty much only two sources for oil in the spark plug wells. Either the oil was accidentally (or purposely?!) poured in there, or the valve cover gasket is leaking. Even if the oil looks pretty clean, it may have leaked past the gasket soon after a fresh oil change.

I agree.
Almost without a doubt, the Valve Cover Gasket is leaking. I see it on similarly designed car engines all the time. If you don't fix it it will eventually cause a misfire. The rubber coated insulation over the ignition components don't like being oil soaked very long before they start to deform and fail.

-Roger