shattered spark plug 0 compression in #4 cylinder
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 490
Likes: 0
From: Long Valley
Originally posted by TechBoy
... i also called my insurance company today... they spouted off theft, vandalism, acts of God... "no, sir, mechanical failure is not covered under your policy"
... i also called my insurance company today... they spouted off theft, vandalism, acts of God... "no, sir, mechanical failure is not covered under your policy"
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 970
Likes: 0
From: Dillsburg, PA
Members:
Per cthree's request in the Moderators' forum, I have merged I believe three or four sparkplug-issue threads into this one. (Including a thread asking people to post no more threads about sparkplug issues.
)
Please try to keep issues consolidated. If there's any particular complaints or concerns about this merged version, you can address them to me or another moderator, and we can split/remerge them differently if you like. Since they're all nearly the same though, I saw no harm.
Thanks.
Per cthree's request in the Moderators' forum, I have merged I believe three or four sparkplug-issue threads into this one. (Including a thread asking people to post no more threads about sparkplug issues.
)Please try to keep issues consolidated. If there's any particular complaints or concerns about this merged version, you can address them to me or another moderator, and we can split/remerge them differently if you like. Since they're all nearly the same though, I saw no harm.
Thanks.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: Raleigh
OK, Here are the pics of my blown F20C. They said they found my #4 valve stem in my #3 cylinder. Also looks like my intake valve got loose and bounced around for awhile before it relodged itself back in its original hole. Anyone wanna take a stab at explaining this? I still say I didn't over-rev, but I'll let you be the judges.
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head1.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head2.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head3.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine...ne/pistons1.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine...ne/pistons2.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/plugs.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head1.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head2.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/head3.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine...ne/pistons1.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine...ne/pistons2.jpg
http://home.nc.rr.com/leafguard2002/engine/plugs.jpg
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 45,821
Likes: 8,322
From: Mish-she-gan
TechBoy,
8300 rpms or whatever in 3rd gear is NOT over reving this car. I'm sure almost all of the owners have done that numerous times. If you were simply up-shifting at the time, its very normal. However, if you were down-shifting and went into a lower gear than you should have. . that's another matter. But since you didn't mention that, I'll assume you were up-shifting. If so, that's normal with this car.
Honda should stand behind their product but as Barry said they are under no obligation to do so.
American Honda knows its their engine that failed and they know it wasn't the fault of the driver. You would have a better chance, out of warranty, if you were the original owner but still you need to gather all the facts you can from the various threads on the subject of engine failures from this web site. Arm yourself with facts and plead for understanding. If that doesn't work, take your story to an attorney and see if they think its worth a fight.
8300 rpms or whatever in 3rd gear is NOT over reving this car. I'm sure almost all of the owners have done that numerous times. If you were simply up-shifting at the time, its very normal. However, if you were down-shifting and went into a lower gear than you should have. . that's another matter. But since you didn't mention that, I'll assume you were up-shifting. If so, that's normal with this car.
Honda should stand behind their product but as Barry said they are under no obligation to do so.
American Honda knows its their engine that failed and they know it wasn't the fault of the driver. You would have a better chance, out of warranty, if you were the original owner but still you need to gather all the facts you can from the various threads on the subject of engine failures from this web site. Arm yourself with facts and plead for understanding. If that doesn't work, take your story to an attorney and see if they think its worth a fight.
Administrator
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 20,274
Likes: 4
From: Toronto, Canada
Clearly the piston and the valve got to know eachother better than they should BUT from the pictures it looks as if it might not be a total writeoff. I can't tell if the cylinder wall is scored or how badly. The pictures don't show it to be any worse than the others. IF the cylider sleeve is intact then you'd need a new head and 2 pistons. If it is scored you might be able to bore it and use oversized pistons (available from Japan). I still think you could rebuild it for way less than a new motor.
I'll post a link in the under the hood forum. Maybe some of the motorheads there have some creative suggestions.
I'll post a link in the under the hood forum. Maybe some of the motorheads there have some creative suggestions.
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: Lawrenceville
The SAME EXACT THING HAS HAPPENED TO MY S2000! BUT, Honda is trying to get out of paying for it, but they are going to pay for this one GOD-Damnit! Please email me your name and other information so I can forward it on to my lawyers' who are already engaging this situation! Loose spark plug = new engine. When my S shut down, I was only traveling about 50-60 mph. It killed a few times prior to completely going in the toilet!
When I took it to Honda, Gwinnett Place Honda (Lawrenceville, GA) They told me "over-revving". They said this after ONLY doing compression testing and concluding cylinder #4 was getting no compression. Well, this car should still operate on 3 cylinders, in a degraded state! After taking the head off, and flipping it, it appears that a piece of the God-damn spark plug ceramic was wedged between the one of the valves. Pieces of that one valve were found in cylinder #3 also and scarred it pretty bad. My Lawyer is pretty involved in this, and sending AH some pretty nice packages. If you could IM, PM, me with your info, it would be great, and would probably help out a bunch! Oh, and I forgot to tell you, my car only has 12,000 miles on it and is definitely under warranty!
Jabreal
When I took it to Honda, Gwinnett Place Honda (Lawrenceville, GA) They told me "over-revving". They said this after ONLY doing compression testing and concluding cylinder #4 was getting no compression. Well, this car should still operate on 3 cylinders, in a degraded state! After taking the head off, and flipping it, it appears that a piece of the God-damn spark plug ceramic was wedged between the one of the valves. Pieces of that one valve were found in cylinder #3 also and scarred it pretty bad. My Lawyer is pretty involved in this, and sending AH some pretty nice packages. If you could IM, PM, me with your info, it would be great, and would probably help out a bunch! Oh, and I forgot to tell you, my car only has 12,000 miles on it and is definitely under warranty!
Jabreal
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: Lawrenceville
Ohh, and tell me how familiar this looks, only difference is mine had a piece of spark plug wegged in it, burned to hell!
www.geocities.com/jabrealm/
www.geocities.com/jabrealm/