Oh God... tell me how bad this is...

[kentompkins]

We may have come to the end of this journey, my friends.

Who wants to bet that the underlying cause of both problems (wet plug and erratic misses) was a defective Brisk Racing spark plug?

I took her out today on the highway to see if I could get a code to come up (since I have been disconnecting and connecting the negative terminal for all of these other steps) and she got really bad on me. I knew it was down to seven cylinders.

I thought, great, it should be obvious with COP stopped working when I pull the plugs.

Now, tell me what could cause this (see picture) beside a defective plug.
Load on the engine was pretty lame - just highway driving. Nothing extreme.
Electrode = gone.

I HOPE TO GOD that this is what was causing this all along. A plug going bad that just finally self destructed.

I have two new Brisks laying around for just such an occasion. They go in tomorrow. I will pray tonight that there is no missing tomorrow. Say a prayer for me.

 

[05stroker]

Please tell me it fell off after the plug came out .

 

[kentompkins]

That's the $3,500 question now isn't it?

It's hard to see in the picture but it doesn't look like it fell out. It looks like it actually melted. There are no signs of debris on the plug...

That being said. The borescope showed nothing down in the cylinder and no scoring of the cylinder walls or issues with the valves. The rare earth magnet lowered into the cylinder on a string came up with nothing either.

If it fell off then it must have gone out the exhaust valve (which also didn't look damaged).

 

[kentompkins]

Here's a picture looking down into the ceramic. It's hard to see but there is no clean break. It looks like it was eviscerated.

 

[05stroker]

That's the $3,500 question now isn't it?

It's hard to see in the picture but it doesn't look like it fell out. It looks like it actually melted. There are no signs of debris on the plug...

That being said. The borescope showed nothing down in the cylinder and no scoring of the cylinder walls or issues with the valves. The rare earth magnet lowered into the cylinder on a string came up with nothing either.

If it fell off then it must have gone out the exhaust valve (which also didn't look damaged).

Good luck . I hope this is the issue then.

 

[ZmanM3]

That don't look good. Even if it melted I hope nothing fell into your engine.

 

[94tbird]

how did you not notice that when you pulled the plugs the first time? Maybe you broke it cleaning them?

Have you replaced the plug yet and tested to make sure the problem has been resolved?

 

[saleen07gt]

I doubt anything fell into the cylinders, it looks like it gradually melted. When you put a new plug in there you will know if it was just a defective plug or you still have an underlying issue like a faulty injector, vacuum leak or the injector drive circuit in the PCM is crapping out. Looks like that cylinder leaned out !

 

[bolted3v]

subscribing. wanting to see results

 

[kentompkins]

I can absolutely assure you that when that plug went in (before a 15 - 20 mile drive on I-485) that it looked absolutely new. I would have noticed that even with my eyes gouged out. It definitely got fried on that ride because there was a point on the return trip where the car obviously went from 8 cylinders down to 7 based on sound and feel and RPMs.

The Brisk one degree colder plugs are all going back in (include a new one) after lunch. I inspected them all and they are all are now gapped to 0.035. OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS ON CHANGING THAT. They had been gapped to 0.030.

For additional craps and giggles - I have a KB boost-a-spark, 8 new COPS (no, I won't tell you from whom but I did read their return policy), and 8 new Autolite HT0s along the special Autolite gapping tool on the way for this week.

On that note - what would be our primary ignition coil wire for the BAS? Don't tell me we have eight - if that's the case then KB should sell this as applicable to the S197.

 

[MikeVistaBlue06]

We may have come to the end of this journey, my friends.

Who wants to bet that the underlying cause of both problems (wet plug and erratic misses) was a defective Brisk Racing spark plug?

I took her out today on the highway to see if I could get a code to come up (since I have been disconnecting and connecting the negative terminal for all of these other steps) and she got really bad on me. I knew it was down to seven cylinders.

I thought, great, it should be obvious with COP stopped working when I pull the plugs.

Now, tell me what could cause this (see picture) beside a defective plug.
Load on the engine was pretty lame - just highway driving. Nothing extreme.
Electrode = gone.

I HOPE TO GOD that this is what was causing this all along. A plug going bad that just finally self destructed.

I have two new Brisks laying around for just such an occasion. They go in tomorrow. I will pray tonight that there is no missing tomorrow. Say a prayer for me.

I'd say that is your problem. I believe those Brisk plugs use Silver in the electrode, so it may have just simply got too hot and burnt away.

HTH

Mike

 

[kentompkins]

Based on the heat signature on that plug (note the blue color) - I completely agree with you that it melted it away.

 

[bullitt boy]

Had the same thing happen with a brisk plug in # 5 on the vorteched car changed plugs out all around used brisk again I believe it was either detonation or heat related.This happened last November I installed new brisk plugs gapped to 33 and have not had a problem since. running 9/10 pounds non-intercooled. My plug looked worse then that, reason I checked em was because the car sounded like it had a heartbeat [ i know it sounds stupid but only way i can describe it] you could hear it missing every so often and would cause a sight hesitation when I heard the heartbeat

 

[HG6283]

Interesting.

Have you re-checked the plug in that cylinder to see if there are any signs the trouble may be recurring?

.

 

[kentompkins]

Yes. I rechecked the HT0s that I put in gapped at .035 and all is now well. That Brisk plug was definitely the the cause of the miss. As once I replaced the plugs - it went away. Maybe I had them gapped down too much (.030)???

I also no longer seem to have any fluid on the #2 plug (but I don't know that it was related in any way to the plug - it might be a mystery forever).

After switching out the plugs I did the following to gear up for more mods and to help ensure this never happens again:

1) Kenne Belle Boost-a-Spark - currently set to min unless otherwise needed at the track.
2) Weapon-X coils - did tons of reading on this and I know some will say it was a waste of money. I'll try them for a while and let ya'll know.


Idles much smoother - a bit higher - Short term fuel trims are NOW symmetrical instead of bank 1 being trimmed more.

Right now, I couldn't be happier.

 

[bigray327]

I'm glad you found the source of your problems. I'm a little nervous about my Brisk plugs, now.

 

[kentompkins]

I wouldn't be. While I suppose there are substantial differences between the two in terms of construction and materials (silver for Brisk and platinum for Autolite -silver melts between 1,000 and 2,000 degrees and platinum melts between 3,000 and 4,000 degrees) - I truly think that I just got a bum plug.

It happens to all manufacturers eventually.

So, the only perfectly safe option is to not drive - and that ain't me.

 

[bullitt boy]

I have not re-checked mine as it has been running great . Right now it is under a foot of snow with a cover on it. Will pull the plug when the thaw arrives.

 

[terry5357]

Just a shot in the dark, could be the injector hanging open/leaking. That could explain fluid residue on the plugs. Try to run some of the lucas fuel treatment, i use it every oil change. I notice a drastic change in injector noise every time i use it, engine sounds almost silent afterwards. I usually get it at walmart for like $5. I figure for that price it's worth a shot.

+1 on this, ran it thru with a tank of gas and injector noise is down considerably........this will be a part of my oil change package from now on........

 

[tazzracing1]

I ran the lucas through my 03 cobra and made a world of difference, I now have an 07 gt and reseaching plugs for it and pulled my plugs tonight becuase of other post and the noises had me worried. They are now anti-seized and amazing Ford made a simular problem with the 03-04 Cobras.