I changed my mates spark plugs this afternoon on his fabia 1.4 16v and it was full oil on the outside of the plugs before removing them.

 

what is the cause of this? is it due to leaking rocker gasket or worn piston rings? (note it does have a oil consumption problem)

Edited 7 February, 201511 yr by wiilydog

More likely from (very) clumsy topping-up.

 

Oil consumption will be a blocked breather and maybe a stripped sump plug thread.

Quite common on the 1.4 16v, my lads Lupo did the same, you need to get the cam cover taken off and resealed, it uses gasket sealant and not a gasket.

Leaking cam cover

Probably worth pointing out that if it is the camcover sealant leaking, there's a reason for that ( e.g. blocked breather system as per sepulchrave, above).  Re-sealing without sorting the breather system won't be a lasting fix, or it'll just start leaking somewhere else.

Thanks guys for all the advice, I did notice a lot of yellow stuff in the pipe connected to engine cover when I changed his air filter but didn't get round to cleaning it out

yellow stuff in the pipe foing back into the engine is usually a mixture of oil and water, and is caused by either worn piston rings or valve seals...

 

My MKIV Golf had the same issue (1.4 16v) and it ended up going to cost me more to fix than to buy a new car.

yellow stuff in the pipe foing back into the engine is usually a mixture of oil and water, and is caused by either worn piston rings or valve seals...

 

My MKIV Golf had the same issue (1.4 16v) and it ended up going to cost me more to fix than to buy a new car.

 

It's actually condensation mixing with the oil fumes.

The mayo mix could just be down to short journeys and the winter, clean it all out properly and see how it goes.

Engine oil not getting hot enough to evaporate the condensation in the air in the crankcase is most common cause.

Don't jump straight to the worst conclusions like a lot of people do when they see mayo in cam covers/oil filler caps/breathers etc.

As above, worn piston rings and valve seals won't cause mayo, head gasket/cracked head or block/a hole in a oil cooler modine will all let coolant into the oil and cause mayo mix.