2009 Pontiac G3 Spark Plug Oil Leak

[The_Limey]

As well as trying to overhaul the suspension on my G3, I also decided it was time for a basic tune-up. The air intake hose has been split ever since I bought the car and seems to have done ok with my gorilla tape patch until now, but I thought it was high time it had a new one. I splashed out on a new Denso air filter, new oil and oil filter, and some new Denso Iridium TT spark plugs. The car is about to roll over the 95k mile mark, and I've no idea when the last time any of this was done. Now that we're living in Denver, and at some not inconsiderable altitude, the little asthmatic G3 could use all the help it can get.

As I was removing old spark plugs, going from left to right facing the engine, all was going well until I reach the middle pair and found this:



As you can imagine, the middle pair of plugs were soaked in oil.



I'm pretty sure this is due to a blown head gasket. I'm unsure whether just a head gasket would remedy this problem, or if I need to invest in a head gasket set? The Fel-Pro one I've been looking at includes the head gasket, valve cover gasket and valve stem seals. I'm not keen to change the valve stems if I don't need to.

From what I read, the bolts must be changed whenever the head is removed so I was hoping to get away with just these and the head gasket. Any thoughts?

[The_Limey]

Oops! Looks like a little more research answered my own question. So, it's just a valve cover gasket that's required and it appears I can reuse the bolts.

[TurboElk]

Yes looks like a valve cover gasket... way less work than a head gasket.