87 M103 with 45k oil on plugs
 

Hello,
A friend has a 87 M103 motor that only has 45k. He was complaining of rough idle and we decided to take a look at it. The car is in superb shape, but when we pulled the plugs they were in very bad shape. We installed plats, but then I remembered those were no good, so about 3 days later we pulled the plats out and put in coppers. The plugs had oil all over the tips. He says the car runs great now, but only after 3 days and oil on the plugs? My 104 doesn't do this. Is this normal? What should I check first? The original plug #1 was in really bad shape. Any ideas? Thanks!
Brian

So what's the measured rate of oil consumption?

Duke

That is a good question. I will ask my friend, it must be using oil if it is showing up on the plugs. Thanks Duke!
Brian

plats are not correct. Stick with the original bosch supers for this engine

Brian,

At the 52,500 service on my 87 124ce/103 2 years ago, plug inspection revealed oil on a couple of plugs. At that time I was using a qt every 1500 miles or so. I was told I would probably soon need valve seals. At 56,000 a few months later, comsumption worsened (800 miles).
I had the job done (around $400.00- parts 36.00, the rest labor). End of problem. Now, with 74500 on the clock, plugs clean and oil consumption normal, which is to say no need to top off between oil change intervals 3-3500 miles.

If your friend is consuming more than a qt. every 3000 miles or so, this is a possible (even likely) suspect.
Valve seals and Valve guide wear (a bigger repair) were common problems on the 103. There are many past posts on these issues.

Good luck.

With this mileage, the car surely has never had the valve seal recall performed if it is doing this.

I would give it about a 99 in 100 chance that replacing the valve seals with the updated versions will cure the problem.

Good luck,

Exactly, and then at about the 250,000 mile mark, the engine may need valve guides.