Re: Fiesta (Endura engine) with seized (but working) spark plugs


"Jerry" <INVALID@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:g6rss6$1av$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mike G" <metier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:vq2dnYrE3Ih2jAzVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<snip>

IME plugs do not break in that way simply because of old age.

Then you have *** all 'experience'....

There's usually an outside cause, like faulty mixture, timing, or wrong plug.
Also IME if it does happen, the broken pieces go out of the exhaust without causing any problems.

Again, you then have *** all 'experience'. What happens should a piece of ceramic get caught in the valve seat, preventing the valve from fully closing - especially if there is little or no clearance between piston and valves at TDC...

They could cause damage,
but the chances of that happenning is very low IMO, so I don't

Than, yet again, you have *** all 'experience'...

I'm not going to enter into a pissing contest about who has the most experience. Suffice it to say that I have removed broken plugs myself where no damage was sustained, and in the 80's had a w/s next door to an engine reconditioners. They told me the same, so I still say the chance of damage is low.
I was once shown an engine with a partly shattered piston. Few of the broken pieces were found. Most of them must have gone out through the exhaust valve.

think the OP need be overly concerned about replacing them just because they might have exceeded their recommended life. As long as the car is running well, as it appears it is, I don't think there's any great urgency.

But what happens when the car isn't running OK anymore...

If it were mine I'd change the plugs anyway, but I have a Helicoil plug kit, so even if the threads did strip when removing
<snip further bollox>

But you don't need a Helicoil kit, unless you're ham-fisted with little or no mechanical/engineering knowledge or 'experience'...

Shows how little experience you really have. If a plug has seriously corroded and siezed in an ally head, the chances of removing without damage to the thread is so low as to be virtually non existant.
Once a steel screw has 'picked up' in an ally thread, the ally thread is ruined as the screw is removed. The same with steel in fact, but steel doesn't tend to be as sticky as ally.
Mike.

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