spark plug forced out of valve cover while driving!! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

PoR2GeEzCamry · 02-28-2007, 08:25 PM

Hey guys, i have a wierd question about something that happened a few years ago. I was talkin to my dad and he said that about 6 years ago, he was driving on the highway, and he heard a bang noise, and the car ran like shit. He pulled over, and the spark plug had been forced out of the spark plug tube, with the ignition wire still connected. He put the plug back in and it ran fine. What the hell could have caused that to happen?

atobe · 02-28-2007, 08:50 PM

may be wasn't torqued down enough and it got lose over time till there wasn't enough thread holding it in against the engine's expolsion and it just flew out

TBayToyotaBoy · 02-28-2007, 10:30 PM

Holy crap, he's lucky he didn't have a fire...with fuel misting out of the open cylinder head, and a live plug sparking all over the place...let him know he's got 8 lives left.

P.S.: A dumbass coworker of mine set his engine bay on fire this way, except he did it on purpose. "To check for spark", he said.

PoR2GeEzCamry · 03-01-2007, 12:01 AM

yea he is pretty lucky, thank god nothing happened. Thats what i figured happened, but wanted to make sure nothing happened to the engine.

Quick question, is the 3sfe a non-interference motor? Just wondering if its possible to bend valves if the timing belt slips, cuz i think mine did, and thats why my car isnt starting. I want to make sure i didnt ruin the engine, and bend the valves.

terrastrife · 03-01-2007, 12:10 AM

its a yota mota?

got a belt?

its non-interference.

(99.9% of the time)

TBayToyotaBoy · 03-01-2007, 12:18 AM

Yup, good old life-saving non-interference Yotas. Gotta love 'em.

Is it just me, or is this question coming up an aweful lot lately?

PoR2GeEzCamry · 03-01-2007, 12:22 AM

Ok good, so no chance of bent valves if the timing belt slipped. Can any other damage occur to the engine if the timing belt slipped?

aussie_gen1 · 03-01-2007, 01:50 AM

why are they so insistent about changing them every 100,000 kms?

terrastrife · 03-01-2007, 02:45 AM

so they dont snap when youre stranded between our cities in the middle of nowhere.

Mike Gerber · 03-01-2007, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoR2GeEzCamry

Ok good, so no chance of bent valves if the timing belt slipped. Can any other damage occur to the engine if the timing belt slipped?

No.

Mike

TBayToyotaBoy · 03-01-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrastrife

so they dont snap when youre stranded between our cities in the middle of nowhere.

I can't say I've ever heard of one snapping...the core strands on these belts are so strong (and heat resistant) that they're really almost never the failing point. More likely, like PoR2GeEzCamry's case, the ribs will erode (usually several in series) causing the belt to skip on the cog. Take a look at the pic in this thread:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t178720.html

The core strands were largely intact, with hardly any rubber to be found. Scary.

On the plus side, some new cars are manufactured with lifetime belts. Yay science!

Tommy · 03-01-2007, 02:41 PM

happens to Ford F150's all the time. wouldnt really be that dangerous, the fuel injected in there isnt enough to make it all the way up the tube and into the bay, unless you were dumb and drove like that for a while.

ShawnM · 03-01-2007, 03:02 PM

I just had a lexus in here couple weeks ago that shot the spark plug out. Being a coil on plug set up it completely took out the coil. My guess was that it just wasnt torqued down tight enough since the threads were fine.

Variety=Spice · 03-01-2007, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBayToyotaBoy

Take a look at the pic in this thread:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t178720.html

The core strands were largely intact, with hardly any rubber to be found. Scary.

On the plus side, some new cars are manufactured with lifetime belts. Yay science!

The worst part of *my* experience (shown in the link above) was the $65 tow charge to get the car home from about 10 miles away. I'd have much preferred to change the belt on my own terms rather than the car's terms.

ShawnM · 03-01-2007, 04:33 PM

Ya, thats a big downside of having a belt instead of a chain. We have had a couple camrys towed in with shredded timing belts because the water pump locked up. One one around 63K miles and the other was about 74K miles. Most people dont think about changing the belt till 90K or so but you never know when a bearing or water pump will screw you over.