# Car died - need help - broken spark plug - lots of bad noises



## VWGolferIII (May 11, 2001)

So my wife calls me at work all frantically saying she got to the end of the street then the CEL started flashing and BAm the car dies. She's able to get it home but just barely. So I get off work and notice one of the plug wires is looses and it comes right off. I push it back on as well as I can but it still won't secure. I try to start her up anyways. What I get is a god awful clunking inside the engine and the car sputters and dies. I take the plus wire off and remove the plug only to find what's in the pic. Seems the top of the plug completely broke off, into the engine I'm assuming. 
So my question is this. Any ideas what's causing the clunking and is it fixable, DIY style. I haven't replaced the plug wires yet, just the lone plus and although the faulty plug may be causing the hesitation and eventual dying I'm really concerned with the abnormal noises.
Can anyone help me out? I've got a rental car now but at $40 a day it's going to drain me quickly. And since it just happened tonight I haven't had the luxury of taking it to a mechanic.
help, anyone?


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## bearing01 (May 27, 2004)

*Re: Car died - need help - broken spark plug - lots of bad noises (VWGolferIII)*

Sounds very bad. 
Question is why did the ground electrode get broken off the plug? My guess is that your timing belt broke and your piston slammed into your spark plug. Sounds crazy, especially on a non-interference engine. I am not intimate with the inside of the head so I don't even know if it's possible. Continuing with my theory.... If this was to happen then you could now have a hole in your piston head. If you're lucky the ground on the plug got blown out your exhaust port. If it didn't then it's knocking around inside your cylinder and could be doing serious abraision to the cylinder wall. If it were to jam the piston the could it smash off the piston connecting rod or crack the crankshaft?
If you're a DIY'er then before you start the car again you should lift the head and look at what damage is done to the cylinder. If not then get it towed to a garage that can look at the engine.
Sorry.


_Modified by bearing01 at 3:59 AM 5-24-2005_


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## FL 2.0L (Aug 1, 2002)

I'm checking all my plugs tomorrow...


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## Pagano (Sep 24, 2001)

*Re: (surferfletch)*

t-belt couldn't of snapped, cause she drove it home...and theres no way in hell the piston hit the spark plug...


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## kamikaze2dope (Apr 26, 2003)

*Re: (surferfletch)*

Could Bosh be held responsible of cost related to damage?
It sucks...


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## bearing01 (May 27, 2004)

*Re: (kamikaze2dope)*

Like Pagano said. I was thinking about it on the way home from work. If the piston were/could hit the plug the ground electrode would have been bent. I was just looking at some head shots and there's no way the piston could hit the plug, unless you had the wrong plugs in the car. Even then, if the piston hit hard enough to break it off there would have been far more damage to the plug. Is it possible that somehow you broke off the ground electrode as you were removing the plug? Yet, I don't see how it could just fall off. 
Get the codes read. Is it possible the knock sensor died and the engine underwent knocking/detonation and it blew up the plug? As you can tell I'm brain-storming here. This is driving me nuts.

_Modified by bearing01 at 4:10 AM 5-24-2005_


_Modified by bearing01 at 4:11 AM 5-24-2005_


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## bearing01 (May 27, 2004)

*Re: (bearing01)*

If your fuel injector was plugged, this could severely lean out your cylinder. If that were to happen the combustion chamber and spark plug temperature could get really really hot and that could melt the plug or burn the ground electrode off. 
Considering your wife continued to drive the car after the cylinder died, starting the car once more wouldn't do significantly more damage. You could change all the plugs and also remove the exhaust manifold head shield. Then start the car and let her warm up. If the exhaust port starts to glow red hot on that cylinder then that could be your answer. If it's hard to detect then run to Radio-Shack and buy yourself an infrared thermometer for $30-$40 or maybe less. Point it at each exhaust manifold port and measure the temperature of each cylinder. If the port in question is hotter then that's it.
You could also remove the fuel rail with injectors and crank the car. Of course you're going to have gas going everywhere, but you would see if that injector was plugged or not.


_Modified by bearing01 at 8:36 PM 5-24-2005_


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## golf strom (Jan 14, 2002)

*Re: (bearing01)*

Just curious concerning the plug...did you gap the plug or try to change the pregapping on the plug. It seems to me that the electrode base was stressed and snapped off. I can't say this enough. DO NOT TRY TO RE GAP PRE GAPPED PLUGS.
Even the single electrode tips are designed in mind with no additional gapping. SO you are likely stressing the electrode metal.


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## .2.Slow4U. (Sep 6, 2004)

*Re: (golf strom)*

Best thing to do is get the head off and check the cylinder wall and piston. Also check for bent valves maybe? I know its a small ass piece of metal but if it got into the right place at the right time you never know. If you don't think you can take off the head yourself take it to a mechanic you trust. And if you do need another head, let me know.
If the clunking sounds roughly like a small piece of metal bouncing around in your combustion chamber, then thats probably the problem...


_Modified by .2.Slow4U. at 9:15 PM 5-26-2005_


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## w1ck3d (Feb 27, 2004)

*Re: (.2.Slow4U.)*

wow! i thought i was the only one! about 5 or 6 months ago..my bosch spark plugs did the same thing, both were the platinums..within 10 minutes, i broke off a spark plug (just like yurs) in 2 different 16vs gtis! WTF? with the DOHC the plug is waaaay down in there..so the only option was to remove the head..well, thats what everyone said.
it took me a couple weks..and i finally created a tool to get them out.
i used a long black Milwaukee Hole Saw extender with an Easy Out on the end of it..made sure it was straight, hammered it in..twisted the ****ers right out. goddamnn..it werked!
i stil have the setup if u need me to take a pic...but belive me
with that i thought i was ****ed.
everyone i knew (even vw certified mechanix) said i would HAVE to remove the head.
still running strong to this day too! 
(i hope what i wrote is on subject)








check this out, i created this thread when this **** happend to me
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1728227
wierd how theyre the same manufac. (spark plugz)


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## golf strom (Jan 14, 2002)

*Re: (golf strom)*

Just a reminder. Concerning the gapping of PRE-GAPPED plugs. Whatever the brand DO NOT attempt to adjust the gap. The electrodes are not designed to be repositioned. It seems to me that people are trying to re-gap plugs moving the electrode back and forth several times ,which results in metal fatigue and failure!! This is a recipe for disaster!


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## Scotty_2.0 (Jan 14, 2005)

*Re: (golf strom)*


_Quote, originally posted by *golf strom* »_Just a reminder. Concerning the gapping of PRE-GAPPED plugs. Whatever the brand DO NOT attempt to adjust the gap. The electrodes are not designed to be repositioned. It seems to me that people are trying to re-gap plugs moving the electrode back and forth several times ,which results in metal fatigue and failure!! This is a recipe for disaster!

ANY single electode plug will require proper gapping. I know what you're saying, but even Bosch on their site provides gap specs on all single electrode plugs (2+ and 4+ are said to be pre-gapped). This is nothing new, but I have a freind that had his plugs literally eject themselves from the head after he set the gap too big.


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## golf strom (Jan 14, 2002)

*Re: (Scotty_2.0)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Scotty_2.0* »_
ANY single electode plug will require proper gapping. I know what you're saying, but even Bosch on their site provides gap specs on all single electrode plugs (2+ and 4+ are said to be pre-gapped). This is nothing new, but I have a freind that had his plugs literally eject themselves from the head after he set the gap too big. 

Even so if the plugs are pre gapped at the factory, even the single tip Bosch products are, do not re gap them. 
I believe that you can re gap the single tipped plugs however, that being said most people try to use a screw driver or such instead of a proper tool. The fact is that 99.9% of the time the factory gapped plugs are correct out of the box while even those that are off are not of issue since it is hundreths of an inch, not an issue with most cars.
All I can say is that an insignificant amount of out of spec gap is better than a metal fatigued electrode broken off in the cylinder chamber.


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## baomo motorsports (Sep 6, 2004)

*Re: (golf strom)*

how old were the plugs, they looks pretty clean?
the electrodes are welded on. i doubt that gaping would cause metal fatigue on the electrode.


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## VWGolferIII (May 11, 2001)

*Re: (baomo motorsports)*

The plugs were/are about 7 months old and were gapped properly. Out of the box they were close to .050 so they weren't pre-gapped. Closing the gap consisted of taping them on the ground, lightly. Long story short is that this wasn't an issue of fatigue caused by gapping them. It simply broke. 
As far as the complete problem goes, turns out not only was it the broken plug but the ignition wire broke. When I say broke I mean the metal piece on the inside of the wire that the plug "snaps" into became disconnected from the wire itself. 
I fished the piece of broken plug out, replaced all the plugs and wires and am good to go.


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## golf strom (Jan 14, 2002)

*Re: (baomo motorsports)*

Exactly, I guess I should have been more clear. A pre gapped plug from the factory is likely welded with the idea in mind that no changes will be made. You know it is very careful that you pay attention to this type of detail. All Bosch plugs that are for aftermarket applications in general are pre gapped at the plant so that platinum plug was or should have been already prepared to go in the vehicle right from the box. 
Did you buy the plug for your specific appplication?


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## vasillalov (Nov 5, 2003)

*Re: (golf strom)*

This is the second time I am seeing this crap happening to a BOSCH plug.
Just 2 weeks ago, we pulled a completely dismantled BOSCH plug out of my buddy's chevy. half of it was in the combustion chamber, the other half was still attached to the plug wire.
We were doing a head gasket anyway as oil was leaking and thus there was no damage to the cylinders...
I have been preaching this for years now: * DON'T BUY BOSCH SPARK PLUGS! THEY ARE TOTAL CRAP*
Now, concerning the problem at hand:
I am thinking the same thing as Pagano: there is no way the timing belt snapped and his wife could drive the car home... Inspecting the combustion chamber and the head is a must before doing anything else. If you are not up to the job, TOW the car to the mechanic you trust. Don't start the engine, until you are 100% sure that there are no debris to be removed from the combustion chamber...


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