Broken Plug Piece In Zetec HELP!!??

[FrancisPennysac]

So sadly, I finally went to change the plugs and wires today on my 98 Zetec ATX mystique and sure enough I got to the last spark plug, the one on the far right from standing in front of the car looking at it, closest to the coil pack. And I thought everything went well, I started it and heard a HORRIBLE knocking sound I thought I killed it right then and there!!!

I could just cry, I've thrown nothing but hard earned money at this car to try and make it nice and reliable and the simplest things always are the ones that f up. ;(

So I shut it off an checked the last plug I pulled and sure enough about 1/4 of it was broken off the porcelain, and had went inside the cylinder when I removed it. I hadn't noticed this as it was dark and I was cold and everything was going smoothly until this But a piece of it is inside my cylinder head, so I have read a couple things..

Should I attempt compressed air to blow the piece out of the engine?? What about flooding the cylinder in something that the porcelain is buoyant in,as to push it out the plug hole??

Is my motor F'd?? What is my BEST course of action at this point WITHOUT removing the head. Cause if I do I might as well have it shaved, ported, and head-gasket replaced.

My car is literally 64 miles away from clicking over 150,00 miles exactly...


I am just outside Allentown PA, if anyone can lend a hand!! I obviously can't drive it anywhere.
ANY HELP is greatly appreciated.

 

[cclngthr]

You might have to take a small grabber to see if you can get it out of the plug hole. Another trick might be take out all of the plugs and crank the motor. It might blow out that way.

Your motor is not messed up.

 

[FrancisPennysac]

Is it really worth cranking over again with that said plug removed and hoping it blows out?? And by cranking over do you mean like On and running or just touching the key to make it almost fire over?? And what would be the purpose of removing my other plugs? just wondering..

I dont have any access to a small grabber to do so.. I might try firing it up without a plug.. I didn't think of that. Well I guess it could get lodged in a valve when it opens not allowing it to close and the smashing a piston into it.... but whats the worst that could happen?? lol IM pretty much screwed at this point..

I have tried everything to try and grab the piece out.. I cant even see it let alone feel around for it as I dont really have anything thin enough and bendable enough to reach inside to cylinder

 

[BrApple]

I would suggest turning the engine so that the cylinder in question is at TDC. Then take a vacuum and see if you can get the piece out. You might need to fashion an extension that will fit through the spark plug hole.

I suppose another method would be to use something sticky on the end of something thin and long and try to get the piece that way.

 

[gmorrell]

Maybe take and post a picture of the plug that was broken so we can see how big of a piece of the insulator is in the cylinder?

Don't crank it anymore, as it will just do more damage to the piston top and it may bend a valve. If you need to turn the crank, do it by hand from the crank pulley, and pull the other 3 spark plugs so the engine turns over more easily, this will allow you to feel if any significant resistance is coming from the trapped chunk of insulator. You may be able to extract the piece with some flexible hose that will fit through the plug hole attached to a shop vac. Some auto parts stores will rent an illuminated bore scope that lets you look inside a cylinder through the plug hole.

What was that old joke about a gynecologist's job being similar to a mechanic doing a valve job through the exhaust pipe?

 

[cclngthr]

Is it really worth cranking over again with that said plug removed and hoping it blows out?? And by cranking over do you mean like On and running or just touching the key to make it almost fire over?? And what would be the purpose of removing my other plugs? just wondering..

I dont have any access to a small grabber to do so.. I might try firing it up without a plug.. I didn't think of that. Well I guess it could get lodged in a valve when it opens not allowing it to close and the smashing a piston into it.... but whats the worst that could happen?? lol IM pretty much screwed at this point..

I have tried everything to try and grab the piece out.. I cant even see it let alone feel around for it as I dont really have anything thin enough and bendable enough to reach inside to cylinder

By removing all of the plugs, you are preventing the engine from starting up. You don't want to start the engine, but crank it over and try to get the piece to blow out the plug hole, if that can be done. Most of the time, the pressure is high enough to blow out small debris, I've done this several times.

Only problem with the vacuum method, you may not be able to grab the piece and lift it out.

Ceramic is hard, but it also is brittle and will break up easy under stress. Bending valves is difficult and will only happen if the valve hits the piston hard enough and fast enough to bend it.

I think the ceramic piece now is in several smaller pieces since the engine was run with it in there and it was too big to go through the exhaust valve opening.

 

[amc49]

I do not agree with like half of that. If the piece was small enough yeah, maybe. Post a pic of the broken plug. I have seen more than one piece of ceramic tear a piston all to hell before, depends on the size of the piece and whether or not it got into the quench area of the piston top. Cast aluminum piston will crack easily if a good smack happens there. Or at least pinch a ring land to bring that cylinder way down on power. And bending valves is difficult??? No way, I've seen engine bend valves by simply turning by hand and you never even feel the engine tighten up but bent valve city, that's just ridiculous to me.

You can lower piston a bit and try to peer inside cylinder for piston top damage. If the TOP of plug is what fell in then part is steel and will wreck havoc there.............why you ALWAYS look at plugs coming out religiously. I even blow out zetec plug wells before pulling plugs, there are recorded instances of rocks falling into plug hole when plug pulled out. You'll be amazed at how much crap hits you in the face when you blow the wells out with high pressure air.

Be guided by the amount of noise you heard, if really loud knocking then greater damage there. 50% chance of junk or still a viable running engine there.

 

[FrancisPennysac]

Update, Had car towed as was tired of looking at it Pieces were removed and motor runs well despite being down to 110psi on said cylinder ,all others tested 150psi i believe. Nothing else was wrong there didn't "appear" to be any bent valves. There was some scaring on the inner piston wall, hence the lower pressure. My question now is how much is this going to hurt the engine in the long run. I understand that I will have oil seep through and burn more of it. Car didn't burn any oil previously, has 40 some odd miles before 150K exactly, yes ill get a photo.

Besides that, I get it inspected/emissions, have my rotors, accel coil pack, bosch iridium plugs and 8mm wires all installed. I drive it for maybe 3 miles or so everything is perfect i park at work and head in.

I leave from work...I have no speedo, and car is shifting erratically. No CEL as of yet, I drove the whole 1.3miles home and when I pulled in I noticed a hissing type sound. Also a small amount of fluid trailing into where I pulled in. I peek underneath and some fluid is dripping onto the exhaust, couldn't tell what I just left a 12hr shift and its literally 2* with wind -15* in PA right now.

I recently had the VSS and TSS replaced and the car was fine up until to night as far. No flashing O/D light or CEL.

 

[amc49]

Not going to last much longer if the 110 psi is accurate. That is very close to a dead cylinder as far as output, we used 100 psi at the garage as the figure for telling people their engines were totally worn out. At that pressure not enough compression to keep plug hot enough burning to stay running clean, it then begins to foul out pretty quick to make a dead cylinder.

In essence there is no long run if you will any more, only shorter. Can't scar up cylinder wall without doing ring damage too. As well, if rings pinched from top ring land on piston OD crunched in, then a cast piston like that can then at any time let go of a big chunk of ring land all at once to make a catastrophic failure there. Cast pistons are very strong if structurally sound but very brittle and once cracked they can fall apart pretty easy depending on just how and where they are cracked. Focus SPI motors do it all the time when they drop valve seats, a common problem with them. The impacts on outer piston edges often crack the pistons deep into the body of piston and down around the pin bosses. Same as here, when you get down around 100 psi compression the complaints will then begin to fly. If the 110 again is accurate there WILL be a loss of power regardless of if felt or not.

Or possible bent valve and not much piston damage......................

VSS sensor broken or maybe the harness to it, they charcoal to crumble back there, maybe just a wiring issue. The recent change may have flawed the harness from handling it.

 

[FrancisPennysac]

So this morning I woke up and drove to work shifting it manually so it would stop the odd gear changes.. It drove ok for the most part. Still speedo is acting funny and sure enough I make it to work and up pops the CEL. Im having it check monday morning so we will see.

Thanks for the info AMC49 I am not new to cars but certainly not a deep engine mechanic. So from all accounts its looking like I should be looking for a new car regardless well I guess ill be without one again until I can buy and SVT.