Corsica stripped cylinder beyond repair help

So, you're running a V5? Um... that's not gonna hold together very long.

Why not go to a scrap yard and get a head from there?

If I was totally stuck and HAD to bodge it back together, I'd go to the local parts store and find the biggest spark plug and cut some new threads or JB weld it in place.

Ray

Or try to helicoil an 18MM TS spark plug like used on old Fords.

You've 2 good possibilities from Ray & Bill. May want to beg sympathies from a good mechanic/machinist friend, explain your $ situation, and have him do the heli-coil for you. At least, you're not a thief coming in the nite to steal his property. I've done this numerous times when I saw the person truly needy. (BUT: not when he had a cigarette or a beer in one hand!!!) HTH & good luck...sdlomi

You really should get the damage fixed and get your car running properly. Even if you get the ignition to work better, you still have to worry about gas that is getting into the functioning cylinder. The gas will dilute the oil and cause accelerated wear. That same gas will also go out to your exhaust system and it can kill your catalytic convertor. Spend a little now to save a lot later.

----------------- Alex __O _-\

Well, it would help if you grounded out that spark plug wire that was hanging, then at least the companion cylinder on the same ignition coil would be able to fire reliably. You're still never going to get it to run anywhere near decently like that though, the engine will be inherently unbalanced.

BTW, if you want to do this, you better disconnect that fuel injector too, or else you'll be pumping fuel into the exhaust. Even without that, though, you'll be pumping air into the exhaust and confusing the oxygen sensor, thereby screwing up the air-fuel mixture. To prevent that, you could remove the rocker arms and pushrods to prevent the valves from opening, but then the lifters would probably lift out of their bores, and poof, there goes the oil pressure..

So it would indeed be OK to get a wire stripper, strip the insulation of the hanging spark plug, and splice it into another spark plug wire on the same ignition coil? I just wanna make sure before I do something that will cause a bigger problem. I was thinking about doing the splicing, but I was afraid that it would cause a short-out or an electrical fire. The hanging spark plug wire had originally been hooked up to a spark plug back near the firewall, so I guess I could splice the spark plug wire into the wire that comes from the front, which also leads to the same coil.

The problem right now with the car is that it is making some bad noise from the exhaust. I'm not sure if this is being caused by that spark plug wire not having a spark plug and may that is causing the nasty noise, or if I blew out an exhaust gasket.

Install a helicoil. with some care this can be done with the head still on the engine if you have enough room. Take care to minimize the shavings that go into the clyinder and then when done use a small hose to vacume out the clyinder followed by turning over the engine with the starter with the spark plug out and ignition system disabled so it doesn't start and it will blow out the remaining shavings. Not perfect, but good-enough.

Even if you have to remove the head to install the helicoil you'll be ahead since your plan requires that anyway. And running with one clyinder disconnected will likely cause other damage long term.

Nope, this will just cancel the spark that is going to the functioning cylinder on that particular coil pack.

If you must, then ground (to the block) the one that's dangling free like Robert said.

You need to understand that one cylinder on that coil pack fires V+ and the other fires V-, splicing them together will cause the voltage from the ignition coil to shunt around the remaining good sparkplug creating another misfiring cylinder and an even worse running engine (4 cyls versus 5 cyls).

Sounds like a real mess.

NO!!

GROUND that hanging wire, then at least its companion plug will work OK.

Because its spitting a cylinder-full of raw fuel/air mix at the catalyst every other turn of the crank, causing a big "burn" in the exhaust pipe and potentially melting the catalyst, or burning up the whole car when the cat gets yellow-hot. IF you can't put in the oversized spark plug heli-coil as others have suggested, then AT LEAST un-plug the fuel injector on that cylinder. You'll get an instant "check engine" light, but at least the catalyst might survive.

What do you guys mean by grounding it?

Helicoil and bigger spark plugs are out of the question. I had tried a bigger spark plug, but it blew out fuses in my car when starting up. I also tried JB weld with the right spark plug, but that only worked a few hours. In fact, when it was thrown out of the cylinder by force, it even stripped it more. The hole is so big now, that no helicoil I could find would work. I had no other option but to say I must replace the head completely. But since I don't have that kind of money right, and it's going to be extremely difficult for me to take it apart myself, I just went ahead and plugged up that cylinder head. And it's plugged up to the point that what I put in there will not come out again.

Ouch!

They mean taking the plug wire and connecting it to the head or some engine block/head bolt along with disconnecting the fuel injector for that cylinder.

Putting it to another cylinder is shorting it out, not grounding it.

Mike

I don't know how much money you "think" you are saving by doing your own repairs. But you would be doing yourself a huge favor if you would stop. Your stripped plug could have been easily repaired probably for under $100. Now you are looking at a different head, a gasket set, a bunch of labor expense and maybe a catalytic converter and a coil pack. I can't help but think if you keep working on this thing you will be shopping for a different car soon. Good luck, you're gonna need it. Bob

I guess after reading all these replies, I will have to attempt to take out the stuff that I plugged up that rear cylinder head with.

But it will not be easy. You see, I JB welded a bolt in there where the spark plug used to, and behind the bolt I filled it all the way up with epoxy putty and more JB weld.

It's going to be trouble burrowing through that stuff to get it out. Right now I'm using a little chisel and hammer, trying to break up the JB weld that is covering up the bolt. Once I get to the bolt, I'll try to pull it out, shake it out, and pry it out. .

I will try to find a bigger spark plug, but won't this burn out the fuses? Do you hook it up to the spark plug wire, or do you just leave it there? I think that when I put a bigger spark plug on my car, it did just that, blow out fuses. Though maybe the blown out fuses were caused by some wires somewhere else hitting together. Ah, who knows.

I guess I'll have to ask for a really, really big spark plug from the auto parts store. What is the biggest spark plug to ask for? I went to the local auto parts stores, and they aren't any help. I ask them to give me the biggest spark plug, and they don't know what I'm talking about. They said they can only help me with that if I give them a make, year, and model of truck.

You need to get the special helicoil for spark plug threads. To helicoil it, the first step is to drill away more material, and at worst you've only knocked off threads down to the root diameter. In other words, a helicoil will still work, just get the right kit. Even the three stooges of the auto parts business, the pep boys will carry it.

A clyinder head from a self serve salvage yard would be dirt cheap and better than the option you are taking.

Sounds like you are just causing more damage.

geese....

No. get the correct sort of helicoil kit.

Many years ago the spark plug of the #1 cylinder of my dad's MX6 GT blew out of the head. I helicoiled it, it worked fine from then on. It's not a hard process it just takes some care.

Approximately 8/12/03 19:03, This Maniac uttered for posterity:

What do you mean by "bigger spark plug"? What you would want is the same heat range plug with a wider base. No way that could blow any fuses unless something else was screwed up in the process.

Putting in a bigger plug seems a bit on the errrr, how to say this politely, bassackwards way of dealing with this rather than simply putting in a helicoil. If the bigger plug works and had anything to screw into, a helicoil by definition will work.

Y'all may seriously want to consider having a real mechanic help you before you blow your head off. So far, it looks like you have been swallowing spiders to catch the fly, etc.

No, its impossible for a spark plug to burn out any fuse on the car.

I think you need to put down the wrench, step away from the vehicle, and call for professional help. I would say this is getting ugly, but its already WAY past ugly and into "scary."

I agree you have no biz doing any repair, But rest assured you are in the majority. Trash and get another or get an education

If your car uses port fuel injection, where each cylinder has its own fuel injector, as opposed to all the cylinders sharing 1-2 injectors mounted above the intake manifold, unplug the electrical connector to the injector for this bad cylinder because at least that will keep raw gas from washing off the lubrication and getting into the oil.