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2001 Pontiac Sunfire GT 2dr Coupe

2001 Pontiac Sunfire
Trim Info:
Front Wheel Drive, 2 Door Coupe, Subcompact
22 mpg city / 32 mpg hwy
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December 15, 2012, 8:42 am

Bill K
 

Question: NEED HELP OK

need help,, I was changing Spark plug in a 2004 pontiac sunfire , the Ceramic material for the insulator broke up , after i removed and change the plug I started the car it ran ruff and missed fired , then it ran ok after a minute ,, if some of the Ceramic material got into the head cylinde could it pass throug exhaust valve , if not what could happen with the cylinder and Ceramic material


December 20, 2012, 8:18 pm

Elizabeth K
Expert Mechanic

I think your actions answered most of your questions. The most likely course of events is that it shot out of the exhaust valve. A bigger piece could get trapped in one of the valves, but being ceramic, it would just break into smaller pieces and find it's way out. The concern is that it would shatter into sharp, hard powder and score the cylinder walls. If the engine is running well, then it sounds like that did not happen. You could have tried to vacuum out the combustion chamber using an adaptor made from a hose small enough to fit through the spark plug hole, but even then you would be risking missing a small piece. As long as it's running well, it sounds like you're OK. Though if you wanted to double check, you could do a compression test to see if there is any loss of compression on the cylinder.


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