Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

  • 0

Porcelain chip from spark plug in engine


Jorgie

Question

First off, I don't know that much about cars so bear with me.

I was putting new spark plugs in my car, '99 Chevy Cavalier, when the porcelain insulator on one of them cracked. I took it out and tried to fish out the chips, but one slipped out and into the engine.

After I got the other plugs in and put the old one back in for the cracked one, I started it up. It started fine, and within a few seconds, the RPMs dropped and the engine started shaking a lot. I shut off the engine, checked the caps again, and tried it again. Some more shaking and then it seemed ok. I revved the engine a little and more shaking, but then it passed again. I let the engine idle for a while and there was a faint amount of smoke coming from somewhere in the engine and also out of the exhaust. I drove it around the block and no troubles. The shaking has stopped and I was able drive it back to the auto parts store to exchange the cracked plug without problems.

I'm thinking that the chip, or possibly chips since I may have unknowingly knocked in more when removing the cracked plug, burned up or passed through to someplace else. Do you think this is what happened? Or will the chip(s) stay in there and eventually cause a bigger problem? I asked the guy at Advance Auto and he wasn't sure what would happen, but he said I should keep an eye on it. Maybe a can of Sea Foam would help?

Thank you in advance for your help, I'm more than a little concerned about my blunder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

A can of Seafoam definitely will not help. If you are lucky the chips went through exhaust valves and out into exhaust system.

Some can be stuck on top of piston, I hope not into valve opening. The shaking and smoking of motor is not a good sign.

At this point there's nothing you can do, except wait and see (and pray a lot).

Next time maybe try to suck it out with a vacuum cleaner, ceramic insulator is extremely hard and will do a lot of damage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I should have added that the shaking and smoking has completely stopped. I just put the last plug in and it seems fine still. I used a lot of WD40 on the old plugs because they were really in there. Could that have contributed to the shaking and or/smoking?

I'm going to take a drive do some shore fishing tonight, hopefully I will make it back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I assume the shaking and smoking was due to WD40 draining inside motor. Good luck tonight (both fishing and driving).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

How big a piece fell in? It sounds like it might have grounded its way though the exhaust vavle. You can pull the plug an start the engine. If its still in there it'll get blown out, asuming its not too big. Other then that not much else you can do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Small parts of the plug aren't going to cause too much problems, especially after some amount of engine run. Your other problems are probably related to other things. Cavaliers from 94-99 have head gasket issues. It's hard to know if that's your current failure without a pressure test.

WD40 is not a lubricant; it's more like a spray version of gasline antifreeze. You'd be better off by using a fogging spray.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Sounds like the insulator found its way out, that why the shaking (misfire) has stopped. If the piece was too large to pass under the open valve and lodge between the valve and head the piston could potentially hit and bend the valve, most likely the insulator would crush and pass though, in which case you would still have a misfire. I'd drive it, you should be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

This reminds me the the time I was riding an old Ski Doo. No engine cowling so the carb's throat exposed. I was ice fishing and picked up and moved setting the ice rod on the dash. As I'm traveling down the lake I noticed the fishing line had been sucked into the carb, on the end was an ice fly.

Oh Well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I was once driving the boat for another mech who was diagnosing a problem with a merc 4.3 I/O, when he apparently had the flame arrestor off , with the nut on the stud above the carb, only finger tight, well it( the nut ) got sucked down into the engine at about 4400 rpm's. That ruined the cylinder!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

You should ALWAYS put a antiseize coating on spark plugs that screw into an aluminum head. Because of the different metals involved they can fuse together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Quote:

You should ALWAYS put a anti seize coating on spark plugs that screw into an aluminum head. Because of the different metals involved they can fuse together.


Most spark plugs are nickel (I believe its nickel) plated. If the threads are silver in color than anti-seize is not require. A few years back there was rumors that the anti-seize was causing some funky drive ability problems. If you do use it use it sparingly.

My advise on the porceline chip. If its running o.k. then drive it. There's nothing you can do about it now other then pull the head off to confirm that it is or isn't there. If it starts running ruff than you'll have to deal with it then but that may not ever happen. I wouldn't worry about it myself!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Well I didn't catch any fish last night, but the good news is between the drive to and from the lake and a few errands, about 40 miles total, the car ran fine. I'll be sure to listen and watch for problems. I don't have a tach so all I can do is listen for changing RPMs. Thanks for the advice everyone, between you and a couple friends I called, I'm feeling better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.