I found out why my check engine light gave me the "Cylinder 1 missfire" reading. When my mechanic was replacing the cylinder one spark plug it was covered in oil and the threads were completely stripped out. They say they are looking into finding a "kit" to repair that, or else they might have to do a costly rebuild of that entire cylinder? What are my options here???? ARGH the pain...

Thanks in advance.

 

I would be curious to see if the two are related. The stripped threads should be able to be repaired with a heli-coil (sp?) kit. Basically, you drill out the stripped threads, tap the hole to the o.d. of the heli-coil, then screw the heli-coil in. The spark plug then screws into the heli-coil. Obviously, housekeeping is very important, you don't want to leave shavings in the cylinder.

Once the threads are repaired, you can do a compression test to find out if there are other problems with that cylinder such as broken rings, burnt valves, etc.

 

What kind of labor is reasonable to drill out the stripped heads and put in the new coil? Sounds like an expensive time consuming process...

 

If the technician can install the HeliCoil thread repair without removing the cylinder head, it ought to take 1 hour. If he must remove the head, you will be charged for the "book rate", whatever that is, plus new gaskets. A big bill.

A properly installed HeliCoil is a completely satisfactory repair.

Stripped spark plug threads are a serious matter, and remind us of the importance of using anti-sieze compound. This was a preventable mishap.