I was heading home after work in my RS, and I came up on a tractor trailer that was turning. So I had to stop and wait until it turned. I then start to take off and felt this slight shudder and then a really loud noise. I thought that somehow my exhaust had fallen apart. There was a loss in power and it was really loud. So I get home, leave it running, pop the hood, and take a look. The noise was coming from the drivers side valve cover area and I immediately thought the worst! Then I saw my spark plug wire with plug sitting beside the valve cover!!! So that explains it. With further examination I found the hole is stripped and the little piece on the end of the plug was gone, I dunno where, but it's gone. So how would you guys recommend fixing the hole? Here is a pic of the plug

The side electrode is missing.

not good.

 

The gap is not set correct either

 

good luck....

 

how long ago did you purchase car? any warranty on previous work?

 

might need a lot of inspection and such of looking for the electrode, hoping darn certain it didnt get eaten by your EJ.

It is probably best to not let EJ's injest such.

 

Oh, a helicoil will fix the thread damage in the head, but i hope you didnt let it eat the tip.

Edited July 29, 200916 yr by bheinen74

This usually happens when the sparkplugs are installed too loose or they have been over torqued.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/4212608.html

Yeah I have had the car for a year and a half, so it's my bad. I haven't touched the plugs on it. It has never skipped or had any issues, except for the HG's leaking. I'm pretty sure the piece was eaten by the motor!!

 

"The gap is wrong" Thats funny!

 

So yeah, can I just ask for a heli coil for a spark plug ? Or what?

 

Thanks as usual guys!!

I'd recommend getting a thread insert kit rather than helicoiling it. With the insert you use the supplied tap to hog the hole out, put the insert in with some jb weld on the threads, and use the supplied punch to expand out the top of the insert and lock it in place. It's a better way to fix it because you reduce the chance of the threads coming back out in the future. If you have the 2.5l dohc in your rs, you will probably have to undo the engine mounts and stabilizer link and jack it up in the engine bay to get at the spark plug holes or remove the engine from the car.

Its a 2000 so it has the SOHC. That sounds good, so I can just go in and ask for one of these at NAPA and they will know what I'm talking about?

Dude that sucks. Let us know what progress you make.

Uhh, You really shouldn't re tap spark plug holes without removing the cylinder head. Doing it with the head still on the motor is just asking for trouble. Besides that, You still don't know if the side electrode has caused internal damage. It needs to be torn down and inspected before you attempt to repair the head.

Well it ran for about 5 minutes after this happened and I also attempted to stick a magnet down into the hole and came out with no metal pieces at all.

There is the chance that it got sucked out the exhaust valve and you got lucky. Find a mechanic with a bore inspector. He can look inside the cylinder with the fiber optic scope and tell you if the tip is still in there and if any damage has occured.

 

Good Luck

I'm going on the side of nothing to worry about. It was probably totally destroyed and pushed out the valve into the cat.

 

 

ALso a chance that it was just pushed out the cylinder hole.

 

 

Never a bad thing to look, but I wouldnt worry too much about it. I have seen destroyed electrodes before with no consequence.

 

nipper

That's good to hear. I'm pretty sure that it's ok, like I said I drove it for at least another 5 minutes after it happened and there is no metal bits on the magnet when I put it down into the cylinder. So about this thread repair thing, can I just go into NAPA and ask for it and they'll know what I'm talking about?

NAPA probably won't have it. It's called a Time Sert.

http://www.timesert.com

 

Emily

Carquest has them its a kit comes with a special tap/reamer and a puch that expands the top to lock it in place. When I do them I put a ton of grease on the tap and back it out often the re grease and go a little farther that way the grease holds all the chips. Then I red loctite the insert in. Usually the strap when they break off they either go out the exhaust or get imbedded in the piston neither of which I have seen cause a catostrophic failure.

Carquest has them its a kit comes with a special tap/reamer and a puch that expands the top to lock it in place. When I do them I put a ton of grease on the tap and back it out often the re grease and go a little farther that way the grease holds all the chips. Then I red loctite the insert in. Usually the strap when they break off they either go out the exhaust or get imbedded in the piston neither of which I have seen cause a catostrophic failure.

 

Cool Thanks. I'll check it out

Ah, the new Bosch Platinum Zero lifetime plugs- They did away with that pesky ground electrode, leaving the sparking electrode completely exposed. Of course, there's nothing for it to ground to, but that's why they're lifetime plugs.

+1 on the Time Sert. I used one in my range rover about 50k miles ago and all is good still. I paid someone to do it and iirc it was about $100 with 8 new plugs.

 

Daniel

SOHC should be fairly easy to do. I put a shop vac on blow and duct taped the hose to the throttle body on the last one I did. Prop the throttle open and rotate the crank until it starts to blow out through the spark plug hole. Wear eye protection when your using the tap, the chips can come out fast. Greasing the tap is another good way to contain the chips.

 

I put some JB weld on the inserts threads just as an extra precaution against it backing out.

well I just found some at car quest. It is basically the same kit as the time sert, just car quest brand instead. I will get around to fixing it sometime soon and give an update. Thanks!

Ok so I got a question....again.

After I tap out the hole, how do I get the thread insert waaaayyyy down into the spark plug hole and tighten it into place? As everyone knows, the distance from the top to the bottom of the plug hole is big!! So how can a put it down in the hole? I was thinking maybe of threading the plug into the insert and then putting it in, then removing the plug to tap the insert into place to lock it. Any ideas? Thanks

Well I got it in. It wasn't exactly the way it said on the package but it worked. You are supposed to use the plug to thread in the insert, then take the plug out and use the supplied punch to "set" the insert. The plug would not come back off. Now there is a possibility that once the loc-tite hardens that I will be able to remove the plug and use the punch, but as of right now, it is in and tight and the car runs without horrible noises anymore:banana:. I used grease to keep the shavings out of the cylinder, I'm sure a few pieces made there way in, but hopefully those will be burnt out etc. But I let it set for a while and then took it for a spirited drive and it's all good, so hopefully it stays that way!! Thanks for the help guys...as usual!

Glad to hear everything turned out ok. I am dreading the H6 sparkplug change coming soon to a garage near me.

I had this exact same thing happen to me a while ago. Plug hit the inside of the hood so hard it left a bit of a scratch in the paint

Fortunately I had a spare plug, so I pulled the washer off, and threaded it in enough to get home.

I had this exact same thing happen to me a while ago. Plug hit the inside of the hood so hard it left a bit of a scratch in the paint

Fortunately I had a spare plug, so I pulled the washer off, and threaded it in enough to get home.

 

Hey glad to see that you joined!!!

I just joined the blow-out club today.

 

Can anyone tell me what size kit I would need from Time-Sert?

 

2001 legacy

Edited September 28, 200916 yr by rpl3000