Speaking of broken spark plugs...

AZ Nomad wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ip70-176-155-130.ph.ph.cox.net:

Joe: Next time post cool devastation pics and you won't get your ass reamed :-)

Your mechanic sounds a bit like me. Fix it when it breaks. You're in the middle cause you'e a caring parent?

Since it is all "profit" where does the money come from for payroll, rent or building maintenance, heat, electricity, taxes, tools, equipment, insurance etc?

That's basically the reason. She's low on cash, and doesn't understand why I give a damn. The day after this car mess began, there was a death on her side of the family, so she's overwhelmed.

The mechanic really is quite remarkable. Over the years, he's talked me OUT of doing certain things to old cars. He's very good at presenting the mechanical facts, but at some point, that aspect runs out of steam and it comes down to financial decisions which only the owner can make.

All those costs exist without doing engine installs. It's gravy for them. The point is that the materials are pretty close to zero cost. It's all labor from employees who are on the clock anyway, and might otherwise have nothing to keep them busy 100% of the time.

Go visit a wrecking yard, and then get back to us with what you discover.

Mmmm, engine devastation... :-)

Fond memories here of an old friend buying a vehicle once where it was obvious that the engine was about to go (it was dirt-cheap, and he had an engine already lined up for us to drop in). Sounded like a clothes dryer full of bricks when it ran. It was about 5 miles to the house, so the decision to risk driving it back was made. He kept the revs low, tried not to stress it too much, and amazingly it got to about 50ft from the house when the engine went bang - a *loud* bang, too. Managed to coast it right up into the driveway... and then we had to go back along the road and clean up the trail of engine parts.

Near as we could tell from the wreckage it was an oilway to a main bearing that had originally blocked; the loud knocking sound it was making (which was the point when the previous owners parked it up on their driveway) was the crank bouncing around after the bearing shells had started to disintegrate due to lack of oil. When it let go completely, the (alloy) sump was demolished when one of the big ends exited the bottom of the engine, whilst the corresponding piston went upwards and high speed and completely trashed the head.

A picture's worth a thousand words, and I really wish I'd taken photos at the time :-(

cheers

Jules

I see a reality show in the making. :-)

Well I have....

A few years ago my wife's 100K plus miles Oldsmobile had a tune up including new plugs and plug leads. A few weeks later a noticable miss developed and my mechanic found that one of the plugs he'd just replaced had lost it's ground electrode. He replaced the plug "under warranty" and her car seemed to be running OK after that.

About 8 months later her car failed the emissions portion of our annual state inspection because the engine computer was reporting uneven firing. A compression test showed weak compression in the same cylinder which had its spark plug lose its electrode.

The upshot was that a valve job was needed to make things right again. The exhaust valve in the weak cylinder and its seat had a "groove" in them which looked like it might have been caused by slamming down on that spark plug electrode which had fallen off.

There was no way of "proving" the valve problem was the direct result of that failed spark plug, and because I trust and want to keep the great relationship I have with my mechanic, I just paid the bill without trying to create a ruckus over it.

I'm still fondly remembering the olde days when I could fix anything on our cars with my own tools and knowledge. Nowadays it seems like I'm doing repairs with my checkbook more often than my tools.

Jeff

There's still brakes and timing belts and clutches and coolant pumps and other stuff to worry about once the mileage gets high enough, though - and I suspect lots of folk out there believe that if it's a modern vehicle it therefore needs no care at all...

I've seen them break due to overheating, but I don't think I've ever seen one that's "just broken" either.

If it's outright smashed and there are no issues with the cooling system then *something* had to have hit it...

cheers

Jules

...

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Stuff _can_ happen but it surely isn't common.

If the electrode was gone when the plug came out, it likely was laying on top of the cylinder. They should've gotten it out then rather than just sticking another plug in and going on...

--

Nice little chart here:

OK - so now that we've established that there's a broken spark plug (assuming the mechanic's telling the truth), what are the various levels of horror which could result from further diagnosis?

Valve wrecked?

Valve seat(s) wrecked?

Piston damaged? Top? Sides? Don't ask, it's too scary?

Worst case is something like:

The timing belt/chain is worn and skipped a tooth (just fixing this could be a few hundred). This caused the pistons to hit the valves, damaging the valves, a spark plug, head, pistons and possibly even rods. Broken bits of valve and/or spark plug gouged the cylinder walls.

Or, you could just have a bit of broken spark plug bounding around in there and running it for a few seconds with that plug out will clear it out.

Somewhere in between those two...

All that, plus scarred cylinder wall , malted rings, yawn.

Start with a compression test. Even check all the cylinders for good compression.

Drain the oil inot a pan and sweep it with a magnet to see what you find.

Oren wrote in news:p48th599bmqtco8fkdbsharahk42tv1t5h@

Ms. April is pretty hot.

And Ms. June

Oren wrote in news:nldth5l9nipk1s8b3r2lld962rult4l2aq@

Couple of real skanks in there too.