oily?

[tone loc]

when i pulled the black thing that goes over the spark plug there was a lot of oil over the spark plugs. is that normal?

[redmaro]

Read the sticky on top.

[tone loc]

cant believe i didnt see that must be retarded.

[f00g00]

The only place where its normal for engine oil to be is inside the motor, otherwise it means there is a leak somewhere.
I'm guessing you mean the spark plug boots because thats what goes over the spark plugs. When there is oil on the spark plugs and boots then you are leaking from the valve cover gaskets which is usually just some loose screws there. The TSRM calls for 22 inch pounds on them but I do what I call calibrated elbow torque. Just snug with about another 1/4 turn. They put phillips screws there for a reason prolly so the screw heads wouldn't break from over torquing.

[dannydavi]

yeah i had the same thing not to long ago, replacing the valve cover gaskets was cheap and easy. i also ended up replacing the seals on the cylinder head cover bolts cause they were gone. and that black thing you took off is probably no longer needed, if you read that sticky you will find everything you need to know, I Hate hacks was helping me in there and i got it done no problem. i ended up getting oil drain plug gaskets to replace that long black thing and it's been working ever since. The hardest thing was finding the 14mm allen wrench lol but napa had it. and i thought i'd keep the long black thing on there with the drain plug gaskets just to keep things outta there but i took it off again and found it didnt quite seal correctly so got rid of it all together. good luck.