HELP! Oil in Cylinder of Q45

[AlabamaDan]

HELP! I'm putting on new Valve Cover gaskets and changing the spark plugs (with LOTS of help from Jeff Williams) on my Q. When we removed the spark plug from #3 the valve cover was leaking so much that a bunch of oil got down in the cylinder. I know we should have noticed and done something about the oil before the plug came out - hindsight is 20/20. Now it's in there, what can/should we do without pulling the head off?

[Skibane]

The good news: as long as the spark plug is out, there's no chance of hydrolock.

Rotating the engine by hand (again, while the spark plug is still removed) would bring the oil up to the top of the cylinder where it would either:

1. temporarily drain up into the exhaust port (if the piston was at the top of an exhaust stroke), or

2. squirt back out the spark plug hole (if the piston was at the top of a compression stroke), after which most of the remaining oil could probably be sucked out or soaked up with a long, thin rag inserted through the spark plug hole.

If it goes up into the exhaust port, it'll probably just fall back into the cylinder when the piston starts a downward stroke.

Depending on the condition of your rings, the oil might eventually drain down into the crankcase anyway. (You could probably help this process by thinning it with kerosine, making sure to change the oil before starting the engine).

[elwesso]

I dont think that much oil could matter... Crank it over a couple times and let it spew out.

[AlabamaDan]

I'm really not sure how much is in there. Couldn't be more than the spark plug cylinder holds.

[Skibane]

I think Wes is right - Probably not much oil in there.

You might try turning the engine over by hand (with the spark plugs installed) for at least 4 full revolutions. If you don't find any spot where the crankshaft won't turn (due to oil hydrolocking a piston), then fire 'er up and call it a day.

[AlabamaDan]

We put the plug in and cranked it up. Big puff of white smoke and that was it. We kept the old plug because we didn't want to foul the nice new plug.