What happens if something falls in the spark plug hole?
Glass in a spark plug hole COULD be a very bad thing. If there is enough glass, or the piece is oriented so that it is caught between the piston and the cylinder head, damage is almost a certainty. Even if the glass is small enough that it does not caught as above, it COULD still get caught in the exhaust valve.
What to do if spark plug goes into cylinder?
If you want, you could have a mechanic do a compression check on each cylinder. This will show possible bent valves or other possible problems. Some mechanics also have a diagnostic scope or camera that can be put into each cylinder via the spark plug hole. With this tool you can sometimes see physical damage inside the cylinder.
What causes a spark plug to break off?
Other manufacturers indicate loose plugs can be the cause due to vibration (NGK), also loose plugs tend to damage plug threads, as the thread is the point of electrical connection and loose plugs would experience intermittent grounding.
Can a JB Weld repair a spark plug thread?
The insert is a Time-sert (as using helicoils would be a mistake as coil-type inserts do not work on spark plug threads), and again, the JB weld idea was not to repair anything, but to extract the insert via overcoming the red-loctite’s strength threshold. A vertical mill and machine shop will be on the docket as soon as I exhaust all of my means.
Where does the spark plug electrode go in a car?
The electrode most likely went out the exhaust valve and is now stuck in the catalytic converter (something this small will not cause an issue) or it passed entirely out of the exhaust system. If the car is running fine, not overheating, does not feel or sound like it is missing then I wouldn’t worry about it.
Are there threads in the spark plug hole?
My car has an automatic transmission. This is a known problem with this engine and Ford/Mercury has a technical bulletin for installing an insert into the spark plug hole. You may not think that you don’t have a loss of threads in the hole, but you do. The heads only have about 4 threads for the spark plug hole.
Why does spark plug come out of cylinder head?
When a spark plug has had a chance to marry a cylinder head for 100,000 miles, it’s not uncommon for the aluminum threads to come out of the head with the plug. (I pull and inspect plugs every couple of years and reinstall them with a small dab of antiseize compound, but that’s another column.)
What should I do if my spark plug is stuck?
With longer spark plug life it’s not uncommon to run into a stuck spark plug. But if you exert mega force to remove a stuck spark plug, you can also shear off the threads in the aluminum cylinder head, and that’s a MAJOR repair. Removing a stuck spark plug without damaging the cylinder head takes time and patience.
How can I make the spark plug hole bigger?
You can use a thread tap to make the spark plug hole larger while creating new threads. Then you take a new insert—also called a HeliCoils or TimeSert—thread it, and torque it into the enlarged hole. You apply high-temperature RVT to the insert’s threads to prevent it from coming out.