i have a 01 2.8 a4 and i was looking under the hood because i smell kinda of a funny smell and was just looking around for anything melting maybe and i decided to take one of my spark plug wires off and when i pulled it out there was oil all over it so i'm thinking a valve cover leak maybe and i was wondering if that was really it and how long i could wait till i had to change it because i am really short on money right now

 

Valve cover gasket, had the same problem. The jackass who owned the car before I did replaced the gasket without using a gasket sealant. The part was only about $40 if I recall and took me all of half an hour to replace it, I'm sure you can find a nice DIY on here.

 

all right thanks alot i was just making sure that was it

 

on each valve cover, there are about 8 10mm nuts to take off. on the passenger side you need to take out the airbox. on the driver side you need to move the coolant reservoir tank by unplugging the sensor on the bottom of it and then take the 3 screws out. the valve covers take some wiggling to get them out. also there's a tiny little vacuum hose on the driver side by the fuel rail that you might break during the process so get some kind of hose that won't melt under heat and connect them in case you break it. i didn't use any sealant when doing the process and i've done it on 3 different 2.8 engines. don't over tighten the nuts when you put the cover back on, hand tighten it like you would tighten your oil filter

 

all right sweet thanks