Porceline Around Electrode on Spark Plug Missing | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Porceline Around Electrode on Spark Plug Missing

acuzerfdw

Member
Joined
February 11, 2007
Messages
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City, State
Los Angeles, CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
'97 Explorer Sport 2WD
I have a '97 Explorer Sport 4.0 OHV. My engine started "missing" so I checked the plugs and they all looked good, except for #3 (rear passenger side) plug, which had the porceline around the electrode missing. That was a Bosch plug. I replaced the plugs with Autolites and everything went back to normal. Months later the engine started shaking a bit again so I checked the same plug and found that the porceline was cracked all the way down the plug on the inside section. I replaced it again and so far so good.
Does anyone know what could be causing this to happen? All other plugs look perfect. I am using Autolite plugs as recommended by Ford.
 



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That is exactly what was happening to mine in the #3 and #4 cylinder plugs. I replaced the plugs every two months for a year and then started noticing coolant disappearing. Ended up being cracks in the heads so I had to replace the heads. My guess is the coolant coming in contact with the plug was somehow causing the porcelain to crack. No problems at all now with the new heads.
 






Where is the missing porcelain going?
 






Its being busted up into dust by the piston and sent out the exhaust. Probably...
 






If you saved the plugs, get in touch with the factory rep and see if they will look at it for you. These types of things are important to them...even if it's not their fault. They want to build products to withstand abuse. Let them know it's a reoccurring problem.
 






As posted, odds are you have a cylinder problem resulting in predetonation conditions which can cause this result.
 






Wow!!! Not what I wanted to hear. This is a high mileage vehicle so maybe it's about that time. I better start looking into prices for new heads. Thanks guys for all the help!
What price range could I be looking at for rebuilt heads? Or are new heads what I should get?
 






Oh, and another thing. I had the check engine light on before and the scanner read random misfire. Does that sound like a cause by the situation I have? Even after I replaced the spark plug, I still had the check engine light on.
 






Wow!!! Not what I wanted to hear. This is a high mileage vehicle so maybe it's about that time. I better start looking into prices for new heads. Thanks guys for all the help!
What price range could I be looking at for rebuilt heads? Or are new heads what I should get?

It depends on what's really wrong. If you just have a bad head gasket then it might be better to have your heads rebuilt but if the heads have any cracks in them it's probably cheaper to just buy new ones than have yours repaired. Mine had one crack on one side and three cracks on the other side so I just replaced them. I got mine from http://idealcylinderhead.com/ for about $500.00 for the pair.
 






I wouldn't necessarily jump right to the head gasket problem... unless it's losing coolant and you can't figure out where it's going. If there's no coolant loss, there's no head gasket problem...

As for the missing ceramic: Good question... No clue there... sorry.
 






If that cylinder is detonating enough to cause the loss of porcelain, then it will absolutely have traces of the piston on the plug. It can be as obvious as the nose on your face, or very difficult to detect. If you are unsure of what to look for, take the plug to a performance machine shop and have them read it. You can also find someone with a bore scope and look at the piston.
 






I'm not losing any coolant so I should be ok with the gaskets then. I'll have to take the last spark plug I replaced over to a shop that might be able to help me figure out what's wrong with it. I'm burning a lot of fuel right now so I know something is wrong, but I don't know if that's my only problem or if there is something else lurking around. Thanks for all the helpful info guys! I really do appreciate it.
 






Ck to see if the injector for that cylinder is good. Sounds like its plugged and your too lean burning up the plugs.
 






Ck to see if the injector for that cylinder is good. Sounds like its plugged and your too lean burning up the plugs.

Best suggestion in this thread.
 






also do a compression check and leakdown test on every cylinder to see if you do have a sealing problem.
 






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