car repair advice
By shibakat
@shibakat (27)
United States
October 13, 2009 1:44pm CST
My car broke down a couple days ago, and I just wanted to know if anyone has every heard of something like this happening, and if it is fixable, and for what amount of money. So here's what happened: My boyfriend and I were driving the other day, and we started to hear a knocking noise. As we were pulling of the road, the car kind of lurched and basically died on us. We barely got off the road. Anyway, when we opened the hood, two of the spark plugs had basically jumped out of the engine. They were just lying there on top of the motor! Now they don't seem to fit back in the motor very well at all, and the car is hesitating and using up lots of gas. I'm scared to use it, but I don't have the money to fix it right now. Is there anyone out there who can give me some advice? Am I going to need a new car?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
14 Oct 09
Wow... 2 spark plugs jumped out of the engine? That's a real cause of concern, and luckily nothing happened to you and your boyfriend. I'd say you don't drive first, and when you have some bits of money saved, to seek advice from a car mechanic as to what is happening, really. If the problems are too much to handle, then it's best to change to a new car. If things can be fixed and the problem will go away for a long time, it's worth it to repair then. Do take extra care, aite and go public for these few periods until you get this problem resolved.
@shibakat (27)
• United States
15 Oct 09
Yes, two sparks plugs! I know. I had never heard of it happening, but I've done a little research on the internet, and either the spark plug threads are stripped, or the head is damaged. If the latter is the case, then I'm just going to have to retire my car, because I don't want to pay that much to repair a 10 year old car with 175,000 miles. But thank you for the concern, and luckily I live somewhere with buses, so I can go public until I can afford a new car.
1 person likes this
@svrider88 (115)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Yeah you definitely have a stripped or damaged spark plug hole. They came out and now its running on 2 less cylinders. It is sometimes possible to run a thread chaser through the hole. It is best to have the head off so no metal shavings go into the cylinders but if you have to you can use thick grease on the end of the chaser to pick up the shavings. But that is last resort, no money to fix option because if metal gets in the cylinder you wont know how long it will run after.
