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What Makes Spark plugs "eject"?

4K views 7 replies 0 participants last post by  pyotr filipivich 
G
#1 ·
Greetings and Salutations

So the other night (morning), I'm driving home, on the interstate, when
"Bang!" right in the middle of a lovely tuba solo, the spark plug ejects
itself from the spark plug port. Well, actually, it wasn't till later that
I determined that this, in deed, what had occurred. It just launched the
ceramic portion of the plug - not very far, but out of the rest of the part
- and left me with a badly missing engine. Well, the engine was still
there, but 1/4 the cylinders weren't participating in the process of
delivering power to the drive train. Pollutants to the environment, but no
power. I drove it back to work, and slept at a bud's place (I figure it is
easier to walk 1.5 miles to work, than 65.2. Faster too.), and took it in
for a Professional Opinion. (Which was, "Yep, need to replace the
sparkplug. That will be a hundred dollars. You need to get the engine
tuned too, and your rear tires are starting to get wore down.")

Okay, so the sparkplug failed to hold together under operating
conditions, does any one have any explanation why this plug might have
"gone west" (so to speak) in this fashion?

Oh yes, I'm driving a 1990 Ranger, 2.3 liter EFI, and I "just" had the
plugs replaced during a tune up a year ago.

cheers
pyotr


p.s. Taking a Ford into a Chevy dealership (it was that or nothing, small
town), provides a number of opportunities for humor. "You do realize, that
if I had a Chevy, this wouldn't have happened, and you guys wouldn't be
getting paid for this?"
.. "cool" in a bizarre manner, but very disturbing, especially on the drive
back.
--
pyotr filipivich
TV NEWS: Yesterday's newspaper read to the illiterate.
 
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G
#2 ·
"pyotr filipivich" <phamp@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:djlqf11bm90ku7ao9tlhk4vej3lm8lqu80@4ax.com...
: Greetings and Salutations
:
: So the other night (morning), I'm driving home, on the interstate, when
: "Bang!" right in the middle of a lovely tuba solo, the spark plug ejects
: itself from the spark plug port.

ROFLMAO!!!!!

Oh lord, I gotta catch my breath.

Kate
 
G
#4 ·
Re: Re: What Makes Spark plugs "eject"?

"Al Bundy" wrote:
>The most likely explanation is that it was cracked sightly when
>installed and took a year for the crack to propagate enough to break
>off.


I would tend to agree but I have seen engiens with constant detenation
problems spit a plug out on occaision.

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G
#5 ·
I never have seen one ejected however I have experienced a Bosch and a
Champion that had cores loose and leaking gases.
It does happen but I don't think it should. I am wondering if it might be
worth complaining to the manufacturer of the plug.
You might at least score a new set.
Randy

"pyotr filipivich" <phamp@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:djlqf11bm90ku7ao9tlhk4vej3lm8lqu80@4ax.com...
> Greetings and Salutations
>
> So the other night (morning), I'm driving home, on the interstate, when
> "Bang!" right in the middle of a lovely tuba solo, the spark plug ejects
> itself from the spark plug port. Well, actually, it wasn't till later
> that
> I determined that this, in deed, what had occurred. It just launched the
> ceramic portion of the plug - not very far, but out of the rest of the
> part
> - and left me with a badly missing engine. Well, the engine was still
> there, but 1/4 the cylinders weren't participating in the process of
> delivering power to the drive train. Pollutants to the environment, but
> no
> power. I drove it back to work, and slept at a bud's place (I figure it
> is
> easier to walk 1.5 miles to work, than 65.2. Faster too.), and took it in
> for a Professional Opinion. (Which was, "Yep, need to replace the
> sparkplug. That will be a hundred dollars. You need to get the engine
> tuned too, and your rear tires are starting to get wore down.")
>
> Okay, so the sparkplug failed to hold together under operating
> conditions, does any one have any explanation why this plug might have
> "gone west" (so to speak) in this fashion?
>
> Oh yes, I'm driving a 1990 Ranger, 2.3 liter EFI, and I "just" had the
> plugs replaced during a tune up a year ago.
>
> cheers
> pyotr
>
>
> p.s. Taking a Ford into a Chevy dealership (it was that or nothing, small
> town), provides a number of opportunities for humor. "You do realize,
> that
> if I had a Chevy, this wouldn't have happened, and you guys wouldn't be
> getting paid for this?"
> . "cool" in a bizarre manner, but very disturbing, especially on the
> drive
> back.
> --
> pyotr filipivich
> TV NEWS: Yesterday's newspaper read to the illiterate.
 
G
#6 ·
In article <8kOLe.20725$vj.11383@pd7tw1no>, m-zimmerman@shaw.ca says...
> I never have seen one ejected however I have experienced a Bosch and a
> Champion that had cores loose and leaking gases.
> It does happen but I don't think it should. I am wondering if it might be
> worth complaining to the manufacturer of the plug.
> You might at least score a new set.
> Randy
>
> "pyotr filipivich" <phamp@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:djlqf11bm90ku7ao9tlhk4vej3lm8lqu80@4ax.com...
> > Greetings and Salutations
> >
> > So the other night (morning), I'm driving home, on the interstate, when
> > "Bang!" right in the middle of a lovely tuba solo, the spark plug ejects
> > itself from the spark plug port. Well, actually, it wasn't till later
> > that
> > I determined that this, in deed, what had occurred. It just launched the
> > ceramic portion of the plug - not very far, but out of the rest of the
> > part
> > - and left me with a badly missing engine. Well, the engine was still
> > there, but 1/4 the cylinders weren't participating in the process of
> > delivering power to the drive train. Pollutants to the environment, but
> > no
> > power. I drove it back to work, and slept at a bud's place (I figure it
> > is
> > easier to walk 1.5 miles to work, than 65.2. Faster too.), and took it in
> > for a Professional Opinion. (Which was, "Yep, need to replace the
> > sparkplug. That will be a hundred dollars. You need to get the engine
> > tuned too, and your rear tires are starting to get wore down.")
> >
> > Okay, so the sparkplug failed to hold together under operating
> > conditions, does any one have any explanation why this plug might have
> > "gone west" (so to speak) in this fashion?
> >
> > Oh yes, I'm driving a 1990 Ranger, 2.3 liter EFI, and I "just" had the
> > plugs replaced during a tune up a year ago.
> >
> > cheers
> > pyotr
> >
> >
> > p.s. Taking a Ford into a Chevy dealership (it was that or nothing, small
> > town), provides a number of opportunities for humor. "You do realize,
> > that
> > if I had a Chevy, this wouldn't have happened, and you guys wouldn't be
> > getting paid for this?"
> > . "cool" in a bizarre manner, but very disturbing, especially on the
> > drive
> > back.
> > --
> > pyotr filipivich

Took an automotive tune-up class at a local community college (20+ years
ago). The instructor told us there was a reason that when you bought a
box of "Champion" spark plugs there were 10 in the box when you only
needed 8. Two of them were going to be bad right away, the ceramic
portion liked to come loose even when new.

There have probably been great improvements since then and they are just
fine now?
--
I. Care
Address fake until the SPAM goes away ;-}
 
G
#7 ·
Let the record show that I. Care <icare@whocares.com> wrote back on Sun, 14
Aug 2005 16:44:49 -0700 in alt.trucks.ford :
>
>> > p.s. Taking a Ford into a Chevy dealership (it was that or nothing, small
>> > town), provides a number of opportunities for humor. "You do realize,
>> > that
>> > if I had a Chevy, this wouldn't have happened, and you guys wouldn't be
>> > getting paid for this?"
>> > . "cool" in a bizarre manner, but very disturbing, especially on the
>> > drive
>> > back.
>> > --
>> > pyotr filipivich

>Took an automotive tune-up class at a local community college (20+ years
>ago). The instructor told us there was a reason that when you bought a
>box of "Champion" spark plugs there were 10 in the box when you only
>needed 8. Two of them were going to be bad right away, the ceramic
>portion liked to come loose even when new.
>
>There have probably been great improvements since then and they are just
>fine now?


Of course. Now they last a lot longer before failing prematurely.

This was an ACDelco plug. I'm keeping it as a souvenir of some sort.

tschus
pyotr


--
pyotr filipivich
TV NEWS: Yesterday's newspaper read to the illiterate.
 
G
#8 ·
Let the record show that "Randy Zimmerman" <m-zimmerman@shaw.ca> wrote back
on Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:03:00 GMT in alt.trucks.ford :
>"pyotr filipivich" <phamp@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>news:djlqf11bm90ku7ao9tlhk4vej3lm8lqu80@4ax.com...
>> Greetings and Salutations
>>
>> So the other night (morning), I'm driving home, on the interstate, when
>> "Bang!" right in the middle of a lovely tuba solo, the spark plug ejects
>> itself from the spark plug port. Well, actually, it wasn't till later
>> that
>> I determined that this, in deed, what had occurred. It just launched the
>> ceramic portion of the plug - not very far, but out of the rest of the
>> part
>> - and left me with a badly missing engine. Well, the engine was still
>> there, but 1/4 the cylinders weren't participating in the process of
>> delivering power to the drive train. Pollutants to the environment, but
>> no
>> power. I drove it back to work, and slept at a bud's place (I figure it
>> is
>> easier to walk 1.5 miles to work, than 65.2. Faster too.), and took it in
>> for a Professional Opinion. (Which was, "Yep, need to replace the
>> sparkplug. That will be a hundred dollars. You need to get the engine
>> tuned too, and your rear tires are starting to get wore down.")
>>
>> Okay, so the sparkplug failed to hold together under operating
>> conditions, does any one have any explanation why this plug might have
>> "gone west" (so to speak) in this fashion?
>>
>> Oh yes, I'm driving a 1990 Ranger, 2.3 liter EFI, and I "just" had the
>> plugs replaced during a tune up a year ago.
>>
>> cheers
>> pyotr
>>

>I never have seen one ejected however I have experienced a Bosch and a
>Champion that had cores loose and leaking gases.
>It does happen but I don't think it should. I am wondering if it might be
>worth complaining to the manufacturer of the plug.
>You might at least score a new set.


It's been a year, so ... as we used to say at the Shop

"Guaranteed to not rip, rot, rust, bust, or throw dust; mildew, mold,
chip, fade, peel, or crack. Good for thirty feet or thirty seconds,
provided the customer does not touch the car."

It ran, it runs, it goes.


pyotr

--
pyotr filipivich
TV NEWS: Yesterday's newspaper read to the illiterate.
 
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