stupid stupid- piston hits sparkplug

[Jared]

So I checked my plugs the other day and somehow (my stupid move) the spacer/washer on the plug fell off and i put the plug back in. Then I started the car and noticed that one of the plugs was fouling (iI thought). I pull the plug and see slight damage on the top and the gap had been closed.

I would have thought there was a little more space, but I was wrong. I haven't had a chance to put a new plug in, but is there any kind of procautionary measures i should take?

[bevans6]

You should be just fine if you simply put a new plug in. The chances of having a damaged piston are very slim, and the chance you irretrievably damaged the spark plug seat are also pretty slim. Make sure the washer is there this time!

Brian

[ray_]

What plugs are u running? Generally that washer is pretty secure.

Ray

[Jared]

I am going with Bosch now, but the previous owner had some brand I hadn't heard of.

I had never heard of the washer coming off before either, that is why I was so suprised. On the bosch plug it seems really difficult to get the washer off....

won't make that mistake again.

[Guest Anonymous]

I pulled some sparkplugs (believe they were autolite 64's) where the compressible gasket fell off three of the plugs. Even better was the stack of two gaskets resting on the base of the sparkplug holes. This may have been done intentionally as some ill-conceived attempt to avoid oil fouling or just from some hasty mechanic who thought the gaskets had been dropped and added another.

You raise an interesting point regarding spark plug interference though. If you know, what pistons are you running? High compression? I ask because I have been "told" by an old timer that maximum gap is .050 on some spark plugs simply because of interference issues. I have heard that using WLS "long nose" plugs on 70's and 80's Sohc 6 cylinder engines not only fits (no intereference) but is a "recommended" modification. At least the later 6 models did use the silber extended nose plugs. I recently searched the archives on this subject and could not find anything confirming this "opinion" but others "seem" to confirm this on other boards.

By the way, if your plug insulator was not cracked, I suspect damage to your mechanicals is nil. It probably took only one immediate "smack" while cranking on startup to regap your plug. While this may have disturbed some carbon on the piston crown, I have seen pistons survive high speed collisions with valves where the valve and guide were destroyed.

Good luck

[Jared]

That is great info- thank you.

I am not sure what compression my pistons are, as far as I know they are the stock 72tii that came with car