Plug blow-out...took a piston with it this time!

[HurricaneJesus]

Someone up there must not like me. I got laid off at the end of November, can't find a job, and now this.
Basically I'm looking at a new motor here, I guess. Should I just sell a guitar, get a new engine and be done with it? I was thinking about just asking the mechanic to do as little as possible to slap the car back together and then trade it in for something that's not going to blow plugs out every six months once it hits 80k.

 

[COramprat]

You've had some bad luck HuJu...

I'd just replace the motor. Trading it out will cost you in the long run. I've never had any problems with mine and I've rolled 200K now.

 

[HurricaneJesus]

OK, so I guess there was no plug blow-out. Just a burnt piston. I had assumed a plug blew-out since it made kinda the same noise when it happened.

 

[COramprat]

How did that happen? Bad oil pump?

 

[HurricaneJesus]

Dunno. Waiting for the mechanic to call me back with some numbers.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Good luck man. Just get a new piston and rings and see if she'll run like that.

 

[HurricaneJesus]

Guess one of the repaired holes was letting in air over time and burnt out that piston.
Found an '03 4.6 with 15k on it for $1650. Add in what I'm sure will be steep-ass labor charge and I'm boned but no other options.

 

[mrvax]

Good luck HJ. I can relate. My car has a miss somewhere, the power steering is now leaking and must be fixed asap and the other day my 17 month old laptop probably blew something out in the motherboard.

 

[HurricaneJesus]

Total comes to 2677.72.
Luckily my unemployment appeal just went through and I'll be getting two months' worth of back benefits. Hopefully I can sell one of my guitars and pay for the rest of this without going to Uncle Visa.

 

[COramprat]

Damn...that's steep. Can't find another engine for cheaper?

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

That is not steep for a 15K 4.6L 2V. I found one for a customer once for 1,500 and resold it for 1,800. It had under 10K and my customer was happy to pay that.

 

[the98stang]

Total comes to 2677.72.

RIP OFF.

Modular Mustang Racing

MMR600 for $2249. Do the work yourself and save major bux. It's not too hard...

 

[COramprat]

That is not steep for a 15K 4.6L 2V. I found one for a customer once for 1,500 and resold it for 1,800. It had under 10K and my customer was happy to pay that.

I guess what I mean is finding one with a few more miles on it for less money.

 

[HurricaneJesus]

Well, it's a done deal. Had to replace the alternator with it since it was bad but what can you do? After driving the wife's Hyundai for a few weeks this thing feels like an airplane.
Let me ask you this, though. Would defeating the traction control throw an ABS light you can't clear? I just figured the mechanic did me a solid and defeated the TC with a tuner and the ABS light was a result of that.

 

[Shiroelex]

It's usually the other way around, actually. When there's an ABS problem, traction control doesn't work. I turned off my traction control with my handheld, and the abs worked just fine.

 

[jprovence]

What else did he do to the tune to make you burn up a piston. Did you get some bad gas, some detonation. Thats the only thing thats going to blow up a plug. I lost 2 plugs recently, thank god I didn't loose the motor. It was before my new tune.

 

[Notchbck93]

I'm lost here.

So, you have already had a spark plug thread repaired by someone else and that same cylinder ran lean and melted a hole in the top of your piston?

A lean misfire would have been picked up by FRED, your OBDII watchdog.

 

[Smokeurhonda]

I'm lost here.

So, you have already had a spark plug thread repaired by someone else and that same cylinder ran lean and melted a hole in the top of your piston?

A lean misfire would have been picked up by FRED, your OBDII watchdog.

Yeah I'm with notch on this one. I've never heard of a "plug leaking" to the point that it would cause you to burn a piston. If it's that bad it's going to be heard. There is alot more pressure under combustion then there is under vacuum. So It would be making wicked noise. I would really question your mechanic's story.

 

[COramprat]

A little late now since the car has been fixed.

 

[Mike97gt]

My guess is the original thread repair was done with a cheap repair kit.. those cheap kits can cause hot spots in the chamber and in the worse case cause what happened here..


Timesert is a good kit for plug blow out and now helicoil has a dedicated kit just for modular plug blowout, we have been using that kit at work and it seems to be fine.