Oily spark plug

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

1275 engine, 64k miles, doesn't smoke or rattle and appears to be in good health. Checking the spark plugs for colour today I noticed No.4 plug had oily threads whilst the others were dry. Now I'm a stickler for clean engine bays so there is no question of oil being accidentally dripped here and working its way down the plug hole. The tip of this plug was clean, dry and the same colour as the others.

Oil consumption at motorway speeds is around 1 pint/200 miles which I consider to be a touch excessive given the lack of smoke, smooth running etc.

Any ideas about this oily plug or even if I should be worrying about it?

Would a compression test tell me anything?

[bmcecosse]

By all means run a comp test - no harm in that. The oil on thread is just that - don't worry about it! The oil consumption is excessive...... it must be going somewhere! It's either burning - or leaking.......

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

OK thanks... will do a comp. test when I have to use the car. Rocker cover gasket is new so will check elsewhere for oil seepage.

[mike.perry]

Clean the plugs, pull the caps off to check for missfire, swap the plugs around and check