Spark plug came out

[geetarspaz]

thought this is a bit interesting to share.

yesterday after having a lovely dinner, i head back to my car to go home.

when i went to turn the engine over, the engine sounded as if i was driving 60mph with a flat tire, rumbling and shaking. at first i thought a huge semi truck was about to pass me. it began smoking after the third time of trying to start the car.

after pinpointing the location of the sound with the help of a friend with the good old "you start the car it ill listen for where the sound is". we found that one of the spark plugs had somehow come out. I'm not sure how this could have happened. i've only had the car a few months since i bought it a few months ago, maybe when it was put in it wasn't tightened all the way or something?

i had driving all around and to dinner no problem, this had come out of no where and was entirely unexpected. i went to home depot and got the tools i need to put it back in. the spark plug looked pretty old, so today I'm going to replace them all just in case.

**update**
so when changing the spark plugs, i found that the threads to the second plug have been completely stripped because the previous owner or owners shop put too powerful spark plugs in and over time have just completely worn the threads out.

Luckily, I'm at the shore house and across the street is a mechanic's shop. he drove the car on 3 cylinders from the driveway to the shop. you guys don't want to hear that sound :/

[bmorekirby]

same thing happend to me. it scared the crap out of me! it was an easy fix, only took me 10 minutes once i got the time-sert kit.

good luck!

[geetarspaz]

Thanks a lot! Good to know. It's at a shop right now. The guy is going to helicoil it.

[318ti_Bonesy]

Funnily enough exactly the same thing happened to me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pca3GA7DPg

How did you get the Time-Sert to fit in the spark plug hole? The Wurth tool is 5 inches long where as the spark plug hole is over 8" down the hole??

And dont Heli coil it! Time-sert is more of a permanent solution.I helicoiled an old bike of mine and even though i fitted it all correctly with loctite red etc... Each time i removed the plug it removed the coil

[geetarspaz]

Nice video! That's exactly what it sounded like! ;(

Helicoil is my only option now. The guy at the shop already ordered the part and I'm out of state staying at a friends house until the part comes in and he fixes it so I can go home :/

[318ti_Bonesy]

That fair enough man, they may have improved the design on them by now
The thing that worried me most is my friend had gone to fit a new clutch for me and found that my DMF was shot.
I decided to drive another friend 100 miles as a favour when BANG! POP POP POP HISS started,my first though as i was travelling up the hill was "F**K My flywheel has gone!" pulled over and saw the plug ontop of the cam cover :'(
AA Recovery wanted £30 to tow me 100 yards to a garage (who wanted £250 to repair it!) so i called my sister who is an engineer and she said drive it to her (100 miles) my ears hurt slightly after lol funnily enough no-one battered an eyelid as i went through the city firing on 3,...

So back to my Q for bmorekirby....

How did you get the timesert tap to fit?? My sister is going to start taking the head off tomorrow morning so it would be ideal if you replied to save me some much needed £££'s

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

I have seen a loose plug pound out the head threads.

As it gets loose everytime the cylinder fires the plug pounds up and down on the threads and the aluminum threads on the head get destroyed.

I do not suggest heli-coil to repair since i have tried them many years ago and they only backed out and destroyed the head for other options to repair.

John S

[geetarspaz]

Err.. Not sure why I should do since I'm out of state and don't have many options :/. It's a shop now, the guy seemed pretty confident. He already ordered everything and is doing it tomorrow..urrg