just as the title says, i have rust that appears on my 4th plug wire in my car, and cant help but wonder if this will become a big problem in the near future. the car in question is a 99 corolla with the 1.8l 1ZZ-FE motor. it has 56k miles on it and runs just fine as far as i can tell. on to the pictures.


this is the wire in question next to the 3rd wire


this is a shot down the hole where the 4th wire lives


this is a shot down the hole where the 3rd wire lives

my dad doesnt think this is something to worry about, but i dont like the idea of rust in my motor. so, you guys think that this needs to be fixed, and if so, what is the cause of it? ive heard the head gaskets can leak a little in the 99 corollas.

 

my mistake, i made this post but didnt realise havedemowillsap was still logged into my computer. anyway, back to the topic at hand.

 

it looks like a bad seal on the spark plug wire. With those kind of wires the little gromet at the top seals to the cylinder head cover so that water can't get in there and do that kind of thing. Do you have a break in one of those seals on the plug wires? Thats what it looks like to me. I wouldn't worry about it to much, especially if the engine is running okay. If it makes you feel any better, go clean those wires and put and check them in a week or so and see if there is new rust stains on them again.

 

i have already cleaned the wire and the rust still appears after a few days. and as far as i can tell the seal looks just fine where it meets the motor

 

did you clean the rust from the plug shaft? I know it may be difficult, but thats also another area where the reaccuring rust could be coming from.

 

good point, i will do that and report back in a few days