My Mark VIII is (unofficially) out of business

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LowLincoln

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Out of nowhere last night while I was idling at a traffic light, engine started missing. Didn't think much of it since another coil or plug went.

Bought a new set of plugs and one coil just in case and started working on the car tonight.

Low and behold, the plug at the back on the driver side must have been pushed out by the piston. I'm thinking a rod went. What pisses me off the most is that I baby the car most of the time. :mad:

When I crank the car, I don't even hear air hissing in and out of that plug hole either, so that piston must be stationary.

Now I have no idea WTF I am going to do. The car will still run but it's no good for commuting. It could cost thousands just to get another engine in there.

For the short term, I will need to get my TBird out of storage, pay a mechanic to replace the trans tail shaft gasket (leaking like crazy) and use that car fulltime while I figure out what I will do with this car.. :(

eklDo.jpg
 
Well they do have powdered metal rods that are kinda weak. Take a long thin rod and stick it in plug hole to see if piston is going up and down while you turn crank.
 
That my friend is a perfect example of bad valve cover gaskets, which caused oil to get into the spark plug channel thereby exploding one of your coils. You're lucky the spark plug threads in the heads are still in tact otherwise it will need to be sleeved. Chances are the rest are probably filled with oil as well.
 
GMAN said:
That my friend is a perfect example of bad valve cover gaskets, which caused oil to get into the spark plug channel thereby exploding one of your coils. You're lucky the spark plug threads in the heads are still in tact otherwise it will need to be sleeved. Chances are the rest are probably filled with oil as well.
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WTF are you going on about? :rolleyes:
 
Why even mess with rebuilding it if it needs it, just find an average mileage running engine and swap it out..would be the cheapest route, buy a motor and bring it to your mechanic with your car and have him do the swap if you aren't able to...much cheaper than having the block torn down, machined if necessary and reassembled.
 
keVIIIn said:
Why even mess with rebuilding it if it needs it, just find an average mileage running engine and swap it out..would be the cheapest route, buy a motor and bring it to your mechanic with your car and have him do the swap if you aren't able to...much cheaper than having the block torn down, machined if necessary and reassembled.
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X10000000 engine 350 dollars.
 
keVIIIn said:
Why even mess with rebuilding it if it needs it, just find an average mileage running engine and swap it out..would be the cheapest route, buy a motor and bring it to your mechanic with your car and have him do the swap if you aren't able to...much cheaper than having the block torn down, machined if necessary and reassembled.
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Yeah, I'm not going to mess with rebuilding this engine. I just hope that I can find a good deal on a low mileage DOHC, or perhaps a C-head Cobra engine if it won't be a pain to get it running with minimal hassle.

I guess I never heard the plug "pop out" because it was raining so hard at the time.

Right on the Mark said:
Well they do have powdered metal rods that are kinda weak. Take a long thin rod and stick it in plug hole to see if piston is going up and down while you turn crank.
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I'm going to try this just to be absolutely sure. When I was trying to put in a new plug, I couldn't get it to thread in, so there's definitely some minimal thread damage too.
 
When the cop exploded on my 97 5 years ago, I had to resleeved a spark iv hole, and do a valve over gasket job and it was good as new.
 
One would think the damage to the spark-plug would be much more severe than that if it were mechanically forced up & out by contact with the piston.

Are you sure it didn't just work itself loose or perhaps the threads in the head blew out? That's a well documented problem on the Ford 5.4 engines.
 
GMAN said:
When the cop exploded on my 97 5 years ago, I had to resleeved a spark iv hole, and do a valve over gasket job and it was good as new.
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You really mean "when my 97 stripped out plug threads and pushed out plug and no other damage was done" I resleeved the hole. LOL
 
Pantera1973 said:
One would think the damage to the spark-plug would be much more severe than that if it were mechanically forced up & out by contact with the piston.

Are you sure it didn't just work itself loose or perhaps the threads in the head blew out? That's a well documented problem on the Ford 5.4 engines.
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You could be right too. What I don't understand is how did the spark plug electrode get smash like that?
 
What I'm wondering is happening is plug is blowing up and out then the plug rebounds back down and not so str8 and the strap hits the plug well bottom?
 
If a plug made contact with the piston so violently that it forced the plug right out of the head the plug would have sustained MUCH more damage.

More like this:
Spark%20Plug.jpg
 
Before we go condemning engines and expensive stuff, lets try to figure out what is actually wrong with the engine. I love it when we start assuming and throwing parts around here...

First off, we need to figure out if the rotating assembly is okay. I would get a longish 10" maybe 1/4" drive extension and stick it in that cylinder's spark plug hole. Turn the engine by hand and see if the extension moves up and down. Make sure if the piston travels down that you don't lose your extension in the hole.
If the cylinder is moving, you are somewhat out of trouble.

Next, we need to figure out why your spark plug is no longer in the hole. You sound like you have thread damage... I would get a tap that matches the spark plug threads and cover the thing in grease. Then try to thread it into the hole. See what happens. Either the plug was loose and worked its way out, or the plug pulled the threads out of the head. Ford and some aftermarket companies make a guard-cert kit (basically a heli-coil) to replace the cylinder head spark plug threads.

Get back to us once you figure out if the piston is still attached to the connecting rod.
 
DieselDan said:
Before we go condemning engines and expensive stuff, lets try to figure out what is actually wrong with the engine. I love it when we start assuming and throwing parts around here...

First off, we need to figure out if the rotating assembly is okay. I would get a longish 10" maybe 1/4" drive extension and stick it in that cylinder's spark plug hole. Turn the engine by hand and see if the extension moves up and down. Make sure if the piston travels down that you don't lose your extension in the hole.
If the cylinder is moving, you are somewhat out of trouble.

Next, we need to figure out why your spark plug is no longer in the hole. You sound like you have thread damage... I would get a tap that matches the spark plug threads and cover the thing in grease. Then try to thread it into the hole. See what happens. Either the plug was loose and worked its way out, or the plug pulled the threads out of the head. Ford and some aftermarket companies make a guard-cert kit (basically a heli-coil) to replace the cylinder head spark plug threads.

Get back to us once you figure out if the piston is still attached to the connecting rod.
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Lets see I said this in post 2. LOL
 
I have never lost a rod idling at a stop light. I doubt you did.
You popped a plug I bet, common problem.
Get a kit ..... fix it.
Don't assume anything.
 
I have the time-sert kit to fix the threads issue. Had to buy the kit when my 97 blew the plug. I've loaned it to another user to do his repair for a small fee but not sure how comfortable I feel doing it with a user I have had no previous experience with.

281843_10150710269730587_4655343_n.jpg
 
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