[s-cars] Thanksgiving Misadventure

[Keith Franchetti]

Happy to report I seem to be back up and running, with a couple of things
to watch closely.

Finally received the valve cover gasket kit (4 pieces) yesterday.  I'm home
sick today.  48 degrees out here in Vermont, 20-40 mph winds, and we are
expecting rain.  But it was window enough to head out and see what I could
do.  Pulled valve cover without too much difficulty (3 hoses to disconnect
and timing belt cover).  The center gasket strip with the circles for the
spake plug bores was the culprit.  (Thanks Bob Rossato for pointing me in
that direction!)  1/2 of the #5 circle had fallen completely off (into the
head, where I could retrieve it).  So that was where ALL that oil (what I
thought was fuel on Thanksgiving day) was coming from, as I had to drive
the car in LIMP mode to the bus station.  That whole central gasket was
very brittle.  The outside part of the gasket didn't seem too bad.  Anyway,
replaced all 4 gasket pieces and reassembled.  (The orange plastic piece
under the oil filler cap was broken in 1/2 for some reason.  Would have
like to replace, but the two pieces seemed like they were going to stay
put, so I left there them there.  Guess I'll order replacement to have next
time I have valve cover off, or if it seems critical I replace sooner).

Vacuumed out the #5 bore as best I could.  Replaced the destroyed #5 boot,
but left the pretty bad looking #5 coil in place.  Boot seemed to click
into place nicely, despite the looks of the coil.  Cleaned up the other
boots and bores (this was all pretty badly flooded with oil from my limp on
Thanksgiving) as best I could.  Torqued in replacement plug (into the 8
threads I have left, of what should be 11 or 12).  Battery dead, so had to
recharge.  Started her up.  Came to life pretty quick.  Bit smokey out the
rear end.  Check Engine Light still on.  Came on 1/2 way to WRJ bus station
on T-giving.  (Imagine that!  1 cylinder with no plug, fuel injector
unplugged, the whole thing gushing oil.  What could have tripped the CEL?).
 I let her idle for a few minutes and warm up a bit.  Listened for any
noise that might be associated with that orange plastic piece under the oil
filler cap.  Sounded okay.  Took her for a little spin around the
neighborhood 1.5 miles max.  Toward the end of that little spin, the smoke
was actually getting alarmingly worse.  I actually turned around and
hustled home much quicker than I'd planned to see what might be amiss.
 Though by the time I pulled in a couple minutes later, the smoke might
have been subsiding a little.

Pulled the coil cover to check.  Pulled the #5 plug.  NO torque at all!
 Yikes.  Came right out.  But no fouling or oil or anything else down
there.  Looked pretty good, as far as I could see.  Torqued the plug back
into the now at-temperature engine.  Time for another spin.  This time out
on the highway for just a minute or three.  5 miles up the road.  Not
seeing much smoke this time.  Maybe what I saw previously was all that oil
that had gotten down into the combustion chamber burning off.  After this
second test, I pulled the coil cover again and checked torque this time it
had held (for those 10 minutes of driving or so).  Encouraging!  Maybe
torquing at temperature was important.

Question, who thinks I should use a little high temp thread lock down there
to make sure that thing stays put?  What are the downsides to doing so?

Also, there is a bit of misfiring/bucking going on--pretty minimal so far.
 I'm thinking I should check all the plugs for fouling.  Thinking it might
clear up, as I continue to work any of the goo and debris from the melted
boot, oil leak, and broken gasket that might be left in there at the
moment.  Other thoughts?

Also, here's an  added detail to the story:  3 days after the car arrived
back in my parking lot via the AAA-contracted flatbed, we had a dusting of
snow/freezing rain here.  Not enough to need to plow.  But our condo
association DID send the trucks out to sand.  So the sand truck, in turning
around, backs into the S6, cutting a 4" long, 3/4" wide hole/gash in the
hood, starting at the top of the grill.  So now I need a new hood for the
car too.  Insult on top of injury, right?  Plow company is not disputing
they did it though, fortunately (no one actually saw it).  I assume hood is
the same (except for the S6 emblem on grill) as an A6.  Correct?

Thanks again for all the help and support so many of you have given
throughout this saga!

Keith