Saturn Repair: 1996 saturn sl2, valve cover gasket, fuel injector cleaner

Question
Dear Sir, My 96 SL2 has oil in the left spark plug well, I believe this is the valve cover gasket but would like to confirm before investing time or money, could it be the head gasket?  

Answer
Hi Tom,
Oddly enough, almost all SL2 develop the standing oil problem in the Left Plug hole.  It sometimes is the Valve cover gasket but other times it has been more mysterious than that.  That is the plug that gets fouled out all the time and causes the engine to run poorly, as well. All you can really do is to replace the valve cover gasket and hope that is the porblem as we haven't really found the casue when it ISN'T the gasket.  While you're doing it, pull the plug and see if it is oily  or really carboned up.  This usually happens because the Fuel injectors get all clogged up and send a bad mixture to the plug.  I suggest that all Saturn SL2 Owners add a 12 oz. bottle of inexpensive fuel injector cleaner to half a tank and drive it down to about an 1/8 tank and then fill to half tank and add another bottle.  That will make a HUGE difference, believe it or not.
Sorry I couldn'toffer any better help on this one.
Thanks for asking,
Sincerely,
Greg Moore
www.taylorgolfsupply.com