Emergency: Spark Plug Blow Out

[Arconius]

The beginning of December, my 2003 Ford Explorer blew the #2 spark plug. I took it to the mechanic who works on my dealerships cars, he said he has done many of these etc... 300 bucks later I am back on the road.

Till a few days ago, it blew the #2 plug again.


The thing is I do not have the funds to take it back out to Kansas City, or repair it.

How can I set the truck up, to drive in the meantime occasionally?

I am bumming rides to work, but there are times in the future I will not be able to find a ride and I will have to drive myself.

I figured on disconnecting the COP, but do I need to take out the injector or leave it be... if so, how do I disconnect the injector?

thanks

 

[scdix50]

There is no easy way to get around this issue. You stand a good chance of having an engine fire, running on 7 cylinders will cause an imbalance and damage the engine. Early 4.6/5.4L engines only have 4 threads to hold sparkplugs in. Using a helia-coil repair will not stay in place. The correct repair would be to use an insert that is locked in place and will hold the sparkplug firmly.

 

[2000StreetRod]

still has compression

I agree with scdix50. However, if you must drive the vehicle disconnect the electrical connector to the fuel injector as well as disconnecting the COP from the PCM. Unfortunately, there will still be compression in the cylinder although less because there is no combustion. If the plug is removed there will be a very noticeable sound coming from the opening. When I was in college and had very little money I blew a spark plug on my Jaguar that had an alloy head. I just inserted some aluminum foil into the opening and screwed the plug back in. It stayed in as long as I didn't exceed 3,000 rpm.

 

[SoHK_alumni]

A $300 repair lasted less than a month.

Sounds like the repair facility owes you a 2nd repair for free under warranty.

I'm not sure the 1st repair was done correctly and the shop has to know that.

 

[rb142]

A thread insert repair that is done correctly will not fail, especially not within a month. If that is what was done, it wasn't done correctly. But from the description, we don't know an insert was used. The mechanic may have just run a tap through there and put the plug back in.

If you are going to drive it without fixing it, the most important thing is to disconnect the electrical connector from the injector (and leave the injector in place). You have to do this to keep from dumping raw fuel into the cylinder and on down to burn up your cats. Disconnecting the coil won't make much difference one way or the other. With the plug in, you have higher compression loss but it is almost all recovered on the expansion stroke. It would be quieter with the plug in, if the compression pressure is low enough to not blow out the plug. The engine is going to shake and you are going to have a permanent check engine light, but it is not going to do any damage to the engine.