spark plug out, white smoke

[volny]

After passing my favorite corner in town (off ramp hgwy going fast to 2nd gear turn at 30/40mph), my car starting feeling weird so I pulled over...

One spark plug came out, threads are still good, no odd color noticeable...

I think I have a bad tread in the block so it may have come out because of that.

Anyway now I have white smoke blowing off the tail pipe, and the stick shift is super jerky, idles okay but the ride is rough.

Hopefully it's all from the spark plug coming out while driving and goes away...


Could the spark plug coming out be a sign of some problem inside the engine, like something cracked or leaking head gasket?

[volny]

Problem solved!

old spark plug got banged hard so the gap closed up, replaced with new one with factory gaping ( I tried to open it up a notch) everything is perfectly fine!

Interesting ...

[SILINC3R]

uhhhh, that's not good. What do you have them gapped too? Also how far are you threading them in? They should not be hitting the piston.

[lucas]

probably wrong spark plug

[volny]

I think what happened is there's a weak thread on the block on this specific spark plug I hit a high rev and the plug got ejected from the block and hit something under the hood that closed the gap...

Last plugs put in were installed by the mechanic when I had the timing belt replaced a year ago.

I have no idea what they are gaped to, I never had a uneven burning of the plugs or any weird color on them or whatsoever, I think the factory gap is fine on this car...but I may be totally mistaken.

So you think the piston could have hit the plug ?

Car is running perfectly fine right now

[lucas]

guess time will tell.

[James614]

I don't honestly think a piston would have hit the plug. That isn't something that just happens without something else MAJOR going on that I'm sure you would have noticed.

You can have the thread in the cylinder head repaired, it's not even hard to do yourself with a thread repair kit, but it requires the head to be removed to prevent metal shavings from getting in the cylinder.

[volny]

yup time will tell...

could have been hit by the piston I guess, if there's a little;e slack, and I revved up to 5k rpm plus, and the tread being nit great the plug probably sat a little deeper.

Yes someone offered me to use a treading tool, but honestly as long as it is working righ I wont even bother...

He said u need a compressor for sucking out the metal shavings

[James614]

I wouldn't trust sucking the metal bits out personally, inside the cylinder tends to be wet and there will be some stick in there. Probably fine for those looking for the cheapest fastest repair that works though, as long as the big stuff is out you aren't going to destroy anything and a little extra cylinder wall/ring wear is barely noticeable on a lot of high mileage cars.

[Legacy777]

The spark plug thread repair can be done without removing the head.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48064

I flushed the clyinder with brake cleaner and let it drain out the exhaust valves. You'd need to remove the exhaust manifold though so you make sure you're able to flush the cylinder and not get any of the metal flakes in the turbo.

[volny]

No problem since, I guess the spark plug was not on tight enough, as I said I have a weak tread on that one so I
'm careful about not over tightening it, it's been fine since!:)