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OT - Automotive repair question


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My brother's truck, this is so odd. I don't understand what he did to cause this, he was stopped at a light and I can't figure out what he did but it had something to do with he didn't push the clutch in. I mean, he was brain dead, he's been driving the truck for a quarter million miles. Anyway, something popped and then the engine made a loud racket as it ran.

 

A shade tree mechanic dude was nearby. He finally figured out that a spark plug was OUT. Now, how in the hell can that happen? You can't see there's so much stuff on top of the engine, you can't see where the plug goes into the cylinder. So, I don't know if there's a big hole there where it blew out or if it just unscrewed itself or what. Nobody has worked on the truck in a LONG time. As in maybe a year or two. And that would've been a tune up.

 

I've never heard of a plug blowing out. I hope it's not bad. Tonight, we'll dig into it. It's a small Ford truck with 200k+ miles, 7 to 10 years old.

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Loose muffler belt. Happens quite often to the older Fords. :P

Seriously, did the whole plug spit out or just the core of the plug, I've seen that before; although if the engine's now making a racket he's probably got more serious issues...

Botch

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If a spark plug blew the engine will be mssing and shaking like hell. If there's no engine miss & the thing is rattling it's likely the clutch came apart from coming to a stop without releasing the clutch. With a high miler & likely little maintenance the clutch was probably worn and weak. Then, when he came to a stop without releasing the clutch, the engine still had enough oomph to keep things turning and rip the cluch apart.

I think you'll find spring pieces in the bell housing, along with friction material and who knows what else.

 

Oh, by the way. Ford has had an issue with spark plugs coming out on several of their engines over time. Some are just coming un-threaded and others are pulling the threads out of the heads. Those are normally due to a hydra-lock problem, either with fuel or water the basic cause.

 

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Originally posted by daklander:

Oh, by the way. Ford has had an issue with spark plugs coming out on several of their engines over time. Some are just coming un-threaded and others are pulling the threads out of the heads. Those are normally due to a hydra-lock problem, either with fuel or water the basic cause.

WEIRD. I saw it, the plug just came out, hanging there on the spark plug wire. Everything looked fine.

 

As for racket, it was making a racket because there was no spark plug in. I mean, it was like exhausting through the hole, right?

 

I dunno... odd how this episode ties in with him doing whatever he did with not pushing in the clutch. I didn't understand him and he's gone, so I can't clarify.

 

I _thought_ he said it went dead and then maybe he suddenly realized it was dead and cranked it without using the clutch. And it cranked but then he suddenly realized he didn't clutch it, and he clutched it and all was well and then POP.

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Perhaps at some point that plug had been cross-threaded and the threads were damaged. One way to repair these was to bore out the hole and install an insert with new threads. I very vaguely recall that these can pop out, but usually 100,000 miles later.
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Sounds to me like a classic case of a worn out bumper bearing.

 

Did you check that?

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He said he came up to a stop sign and forgot to push the clutch in. Don't ask me why. I mean, after quarter million miles, you'd think he'd know. The truck started shaking like it should as he stopped. When he clutched it, it ran fine a few seconds, then pop.

 

Put the plug back in last night. It went in fine. So far, so good. He says the engine seems to be missing a little.

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Now might be a good time to change all his plugs and wires.

"Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER."

"Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde

 

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Way back in the day when I was in high school I was out riding my old Honda 350 motorcycle one night and the left plug popped out of the aluminum cylinder head. I'd crossed threaded it and it stripped the thread and this live spark plug dangling from the wire is still firing and hitting my leg! Yeoowww!! I took it to a mechanic and he put a heliocoil in the head which is a piece of coiled metal welded into the old thread and that did the trick.

 

steve

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  • 2 weeks later...
Originally posted by phaeton:

so what happened?

Posted above: Put the plug back in last night. It went in fine. So far, so good. He says the engine seems to be missing a little.

 

Running okay since then.

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quote:Originally posted by phaeton:

so what happened?

 

Posted above: Put the plug back in last night. It went in fine. So far, so good. He says the engine seems to be missing a little.

 

Running okay since then.

 

Yeah, but THEN what? :D

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WWND?

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