Cxrazy

Hey all,

I just drove 6 hours up to st. Louis to go on a college visit.

I get off the highway and pull to a stop at a stop light, and hear a bbup,bup,bup in series with the engine.

I pull off, and pop the hood and I can still hear the noise. Its the spark plug boot on the drivers side, the one closest to the firewall (v6). Its up about 1/2" and every time that cylinder fires it rattles making the noise. I cant push it back down, as hard as I push, but when I hold it and keep it from moving the sound goes away.

I can pull the boot off, and it comes off just like normal, the top of the plug isn't stuck inside of it.

It feels like that spark plug just been moved up 1/2". I don't have any tools to look at it either.

This isn't normal, and I have to drive back another 6hours today, and I don't want to majorly fF&*( my engine up.

Please someone know whats going on.

zlathim

Put a socket on the plug and make sure it is tight. Is the noise a spark escaping or just a mechanical rattle? I've never seen a simple loose boot cause a noise like that, so I'm kinda at a loss here. If the spark plug itself is loose, you would have a definite lose of power and it would be hard to make it go away by pressing on the boot.

Workhorse

x2 ^ double-check your spark plug is tight, if u need tools autozone and some other parts stores have a loaner policy

mt_goat

Yeah sounds like loose plug. Some have even had them blow out, taking the remaining threads with it. Take it out and check the threads, if they look ok replace it with some anti-seize on the threads and thighten to the proper torque spec. Be carefull not to cross-thread the aluminum threads in the head, they may be damaged now. If you hit resistance back off, hopefully you can just screw it in by hand.

NwRunner

^exactly

id buy a new plug and install it fresh just to be safe, but make sure it goes in easy.

sand sometimes if you get aftermarket ones, they have little rubber things where they connect to the sparkplug, and they could keep it from making a clear connection. Thats the problem i had in my honda.

Cxrazy

Well it slowly happened to all the plugs on the drivers side, and I progressively replaced them.

The first one was the worst, and it seems to have taken a thread out of my head. I'm doing all the plugs tomorrow with ones from the dealer. Should have done it right the first time.

I'll up some pics to show you what I mean later.

Angstrom

Look inside the boot of the plug wire and make sure the metalic piece that fits on the spark plug is intact, ie not bent or missing. If its missing, it likely broke and is attached to the spark plug.

Cxrazy

nope.

My spark plugs actually started to wiggle themselves off. One of them succeeded to take out a thread on my head. I replaced all 6 spark plugs with ones from the dealer today. Everything is now A-OK.

The ones that were in there were POS $1.50 autolite ones.

I guess you get what you pay for.

crolison

At least you werent trying to replace your spark plugs and pull on the cable/boot and it rips off in the middle of your engine, like 2 of mine did last time i replaced plugs. I had to call a friend to take me to the store to get some really thin plyers

Cxrazy

Wow that would suck... My boots/wires look to be in good condition, but then again, I just broke 100,000 yesterday.

The same day my plug F^&*^&* up. haha, Sign of good things to come.