i,ve been burning out plugs on the cylinder that you have to take the air intake off to get to. the last one got so hot that the ceramic that surrounds the electrode actually cracked and half of it was missing when i pulled the plug out. using the factory denso plugs. truck is approaching 250k. also i want to switch to ngk plugs but cant seem to search this forum. the # i came up with off the internet is ngk bkr5es. would that be the correct plug for my truck?

 

Yeah that is the correct plug. You could use a higher end plug like one of the iridium ones which may help also.

The Denso's are decent but I've always stuck to the NGKs and been fine. Especially if you are just using the standard plug. I have used the Denso iridium plugs with fine results but have always felt NGK to be superior. That could just be a perception I've gotten from everyone else on this forum...haha :-)

I'm not sure why you experiencing melted plugs though. I assume due to it being the wrong one or just a low quality plug. Have you experienced other overheating issues of any kind or a misfire in one of the cylinders?

 

Is your exhaust manifold cracked?

 

its just the plug in the #3? cylinder that burns out, the one thats hard to get to.
no real overheating issues, dealer installed densos, no misfire with fresh plugs but after it starts to burn out the plug the misfire obviously gets really bad.

 

Good question!? Which would then equal bad valves...

 

i dont think so, i had a crack in my old trucks manifold and i could hear the exhaust leak.

 

Could be worth checking on though...its weird that just the #3 is doing that. It may be a good idea to get a compression and/or leak down test on it to be sure.

250k miles...not bad...anything major besides this happen to it? I'm at 148k and going strong (knock on wood**)...did you need a valve job or anything?

 

take off the heat shield, I bet you find a crack

 

pulled off the heatshield today and there are no cracks.
i talked to a friend who is a mechanic and he thought an injector may no be firing right??

 

my bet is on DC


my manifold crack was at #3 exhuast port



spray some PB blaster all over the manifold and let it set for a little while if there is any cracks in the manifold the penitrating oil will seep into the crack and the metal will look wet around the crack. It might be on the engine side of the manifold also.

But you said you did not hear anything or see anything so IDK


also check to see if the plug wire is shorting out somewhere along the way. Maybe a set of OEM plug wires.

 

update:
so last june i replaced all the plugs with ngk's and it ran great up til a month ago when the #3 plug burnt out again (cracked ceramic). the cylinder seemed to be pretty hot when i replaced the plug. ran good for another month then just the other day it crapped out. blew the spark plug out of the engine. it happened when the engine was under load as i was gasing it up a hill. anybody have any idea what happened?? should i be looking for a new engine? the spark plug was properly torqued and there was never any previous thread damage. it will still run, just really really rough.

 

the cylinder was what?!?!?!

 

The cylinder merely was, Troy. Sheesh, try and keep up.

The cylinder was an entity; an enlightened being. "The cylinder, WAS". And that is all there is too it!

 

Tight valve on that cylinder?

 

thank you sensei...

 

my bad. i dont know wtf happened there.
reread post 11.