Just thought I'd post up a little FYI. My Monty has been running great these past months and two weeks ago I finally put new rear shocks on. WOW what a difference in ride. Anyway, as luck would have it, the day after I go to start her up and she's mis-firing really bad. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> As I rev it up it smooths out but at anything below 1500 rpm it's a three cylinder. It was way too cold to look into it so I let her sit until today. Long story short, I pull plug wires while it's idling and find #2 ain't firing. I pull the plug and check it and it looks fine (they were new 2 months ago) so I spray some brake cleaner (it was all I had) on it to clean it up some and that's when I see the crack in the electrode ceramic (as the cleaner evaporated the crack showed up clear as day). Popped a new plug in and she's running great again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> It must have been arcing inside the plug and not lighting the fuel off at low speed and at higher RPM I guess there was enough swirl or something to ignite.

So if you need to check your plugs, spray some brake clean on the ceramic and watch as it evaporates.

Spark plugs? What are those?














<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> J/K, stupid diesel driver's joke. Glad you solved it.

Here's another spark plug story.

My chain saw had trouble starting and running. I did everything I thought to fix it. I had pulled the plug and inspection showed it to be ok. Well I had the plug out again and almost accidently turned it so the tip was facing down. As I did that I noticed the ceramic below the center electrode slipped down the electrode and closed the plug gap. When I turned the plug tip end up the ceramic slid back to the proper position. Replaced the plug, worked fine.

Oh how I wish I could afford to switch this to a diesel. There's a 2.8L TD on ebay right now but the price is too steep for my pockets (for a used motor anyway). Plus I figure I could probably get one imported myself for cheaper if I felt like going through all the paperwork. But if I ever did, I would be home brewing some bio-diesel and tell the middle east to stick it.

Wow, that chain saw plug...that is bizarre!

2.6 turbo motor. Plugs gapped to .39. Brand new NGK's. Every time I'd wind it up past 4500, it would misfire like crazy and kill the power and boost. Finally found a post somewhere that said that wide stock gaps have the spark blown out by the turbulence in a forced induction motor. Closed the gap to .32, and the misfire went away, and never came back.

better one. Had a good running 2.6T motor with about 6000 on the plugs, so I pulled them for a new set. Motor had the smoothest idle I ever had on a 2.6, and pulled like a bandit at wot, and cruised like silk. The #1 plug had no center electrode or ceramic at all showing, broken off almost half an inch down inside the threads. Nothing in the cylinder (and no scars) showing with a borescope. No dings on the turbo exhaust wheel. No spark plug guts lying in the cat. inlet. And I have no idea how it was firing the cylinder. I could get no visible sparks from it out of the motor with wire attached and shell grounded. 'splain that one...

Spark jumped to the top of the piston or head itself?