Spark Plug Issue....

[A&B 06GT]

So today I was changing my plug out and when doing so I came across one plug that had part of the ceramic missing. Im guessing it fell into the cylinder now has this happened to anyone else? Should this be a super concerned about? This happened to be the passenger side rear plug.... I was concerned to the point that i put the new plugs into the car and I did not start it and i left the car at work.... Any info would help please.

 

[psfracer]

You mean part of the insulator nose? What are you concerned about, that this small piece is in the cylinder somewhere?

When I ran nitrous for 1 1/2 years I lost several plugs, usually the ground strap melted, etc. I don't think you have anything to worry about---more then likely the piece fell off and was shot out of the cylinder into the exhaust.

 

[cekim]

So today I was changing my plug out and when doing so I came across one plug that had part of the ceramic missing. Im guessing it fell into the cylinder now has this happened to anyone else? Should this be a super concerned about? This happened to be the passenger side rear plug.... I was concerned to the point that i put the new plugs into the car and I did not start it and i left the car at work.... Any info would help please.

2 part dillema:
1. why did it break - possibilities:
a. excessive lean condition?
b. nitrous?
c. fault in the ceramic?

pics of the plug would help - nice tight macro shots so we can see the texture of the remaining ceramic - and/or diagnose it yourself - there are plenty of sites out there that have good pics of typical plug conditions

2. Where did the "debris" go.... That's a tough one... I've personally engines chew up and spit out some surprising things and then run for another 100K miles... and then I have seen the opposite happen too...

It is reasonably likely that the ceramic piece "shattered" into some pretty fine parts and most of it got blown into the exhaust (which would mean some went out the back and some got stuck in your cats if you still have them). In short, the damage is done... But it is possible that it cracked as you were removing it (seems less likely than while running, but the condition of the plug might help shed some light on that)...

This is a painful one... I don't have a good answer - maybe someone else can chime in with options/opinions? (looks like pfsracer did while I was typing...)

Endoscope?
Vacuum/Suction the hell out of the cylinder?
Hope for the best and start thinking about your next build?

Good luck - let us know what you find...

 

[psfracer]

Post a pic of the spark plug if you can. I guess you may also be talking about the actual ceramic portion of the plug where the COP connects to? I have had a couple of plugs where you could see a long hairline crack in the ceramic coating just under the terminal. If it broke while you were removing the plug, it would have no where to go because of the socket and the hex portion of the spark plug, then probably fell to the ground when you took the spark plug out of the socket.

Of note, however, is I always used a vacum cleaner to clean out the spark plug holes after removing the COP's but BEFORE removing any plugs....I would always find a bunch of dirt down there.

Please clarify---if you don't have a camera to take a pic of it, I attached a general pic so perhaps you can describe it using this pic.

 

[cekim]

Post a pic of the spark plug if you can. I guess you may also be talking about the actual ceramic portion of the plug where the COP connects to?

Excellent point - should have asked that... Picture would help a lot here...

 

[A&B 06GT]

Sorry if i wasnt clear enough but it is the ceramic that surrounds the electrode. Tomorow ill get pics up in the morning

 

[thump_rrr]

Is it possible that the shield seized to the head and broke off when you went to remove it?
Did a new plug fit in its place without issue?

The F-150 which uses the same style plug was known for the shield breaking off in the head. There is a special tool and procedure for removing the broken shield from the head if that is the case.

The way to prevent this from reoccuring is to coat the shield and seat area of the plug (but not the threads) with nickel anti-seize compound and remove them regularly.

Do a search for tsb 06-5-9

 

[1Fast05Turbo]

Is it possible that the shield seized to the head and broke off when you went to remove it?
Did a new plug fit in its place without issue?

The F-150 which uses the same style plug was known for the shield breaking off in the head. There is a special tool and procedure for removing the broken shield from the head if that is the case.

It is a known issue with 2005 up Mustangs as well. It happened to me. Luckilly I have a friend who is a Ford mechanic and he loaned me the tool kit to remove the shield.

 

[donnyonee]

instead of a vacuum cleaner down that silly hole before removeing the plug, i put a piece of 1/4 copper about 10 " long on a air nozzel to blow the holes clean first. just blow each, and do 1 at a time so as not to get excess dirt from 1 to another. the copper works good cause its nice to bend any direction for wherever you want to blow. and ALWAYS use safety glasses.
and it isnt necessary to over tighten the plugs into the head after a little antisieze is applied.
imho

 

[A&B 06GT]

Here is the pic of the plug...

 

[cekim]

Here is the pic of the plug...

Hard to see the texture of the ceramic with all that orange - are you using octane boosters?

Is the ceramic "pitted"?

From this distance, that sure looks like detonation in which case it fractured while the engine was running, but the fact that it is so clean on the crack hints that maybe it only fell off when you took it out or very recently...

p.s. Have you gone over the outside of the engine with a fine tooth comb to see if the fragment fell outside?

p.p.s Is that white ceramic as white as it appears? It doesn't look like the engine even ran for it to be that white...

 

[A&B 06GT]

well when your looking at the plug in front of you it doesnt have any of that orange color like in the pic maybe its because i brightend the picture a little but the rest of the ceramic is smooth. no octane booster is being used

 

[1Fast05Turbo]

The only way that could happen is by blunt force or like Cekim says, detonation (or maybe a defective sparkplug with an already cracked ceramic).

 

[A&B 06GT]

ok maybe it was detonation but i couldnt hear it, how bad is this? should i go ahead and start tearing down the motor? When this happened to me in my honda everything was fine.

 

[stlwagon]

The red is just Methycyclopentadienyl Maganese Tricarbonyl (MMT). It's an anti-knock additive in all gasoline.

 

[donnyonee]

how about looking into the cylinder with 1 of those flexable lookyloo gizmos for any ceramic .

 

[KIMMER]

If you don't want to rip into it, try to get ahold of a fiber optic camera to look in the cylinder. If you can't get ahold of one somewhere, i'd open it up and double check stuff. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[1Fast05Turbo]

Remove sparkplug. get a piece of flexible hose that will fit into the sparkplug hole and adapt it to a vacuum cleaner and go for it. I think if it still there the vacuum should pick it up.

 

[A&B 06GT]

well i dont have a boroscope so that was out of the question. I did take the air hose to the cyl and nothing shot out. I did start it and rev it a little and its running fine now. I threw it back on the dyno to do a few runs and its good not as high as last time since i only had an hour before we closed. The results are 438rwhp and 396 rwtq I might spend another hr on it tomorow but we will see how the day goes. Also i think its time i tune off a base map from bama since the can tune from procharger is just a bit lean for me.

 

[cekim]

well i dont have a boroscope so that was out of the question. I did take the air hose to the cyl and nothing shot out. I did start it and rev it a little and its running fine now. I threw it back on the dyno to do a few runs and its good not as high as last time since i only had an hour before we closed. The results are 438rwhp and 396 rwtq I might spend another hr on it tomorow but we will see how the day goes. Also i think its time i tune off a base map from bama since the can tune from procharger is just a bit lean for me.

Glad things are going well...

As for "how bad is it?" - it is possible that the plug was "flawed", but more likely that you are going lean and knocking at some point - so I'd pay close attention to your A/F and IAT...

Good luck...