Uh oh Misfire in Cylinder 2 - help!

Driving down the highway yesterday and truck was idling hard, then lost power and check engine light started flashing. Drove 10 minutes to an auto parts place and pulled codes, 302 misfire in cylinder two.

I pulled the sparkplug and this is what I found...





I do all the maintenance on this thing, and these spark plugs have less than 30k miles on them and are the OEM kind. What could cause this?

Also should I just try and replace the spark plug and coil and hope for the best or should I take it to a shop and have them scope the engine to make sure none of the plug fell in, and the threads are still intact?

 

I would bet the piece of sparkplug is already out through the exhaust valve. Or maybe not.

 

Id have it scoped... that sucks man. I hope it already worked its way out with no harm done!

 

ugh yeah thats what I figured, not really how I wanted to spend my day though... what could cause something like this?

 

Either something hit it or a faulty plug. You might at least try to contact the manufacturer.

 

Gonna be hard to prove the plug was faulty....

 

That coil pack is looking pretty bad. Highly unlikely that it is connected to the plug failure but that crack in the boot would have me worried.

Check your intake path and make sure a critter hasn't been homesteading in your airbox.

Edit - now that I look closer at that photo I think it could possibly be caused by a defective coil pack which caused the electrode to melt/disintegrate. In any case it's probably out the exhaust as another poster mentioned.

Scope it, and/or check compression, replace plug (and the coil pack!) and move on.

 

Even harder to get them to admit it.

 

Thanks guys, looks like it melted some of the threads to the plug, so I'm getting it towed to a engine shop for a scope and a looksy. My wallet is already burning.

On a funny note I spoke to my regular mechanic and the engine shop and their very first question was "is it a Ford?" Then they were both shocked about it being a Toyota, so that's something!

 

There's a run of Ford F150 Triton V8s that are notorious for the plugs either (1) popping out of the head and embedding themselves in the hood or (2) being impossible to remove without major machine work.

 

Well ford has had lots of issues with their little baby spark plugs....

You may have a stuck closed injector on that cylinder. Lean condition is what causes a melting plug.

Do not replace the plug and run it, you could burn a hole in the piston and or melt the head. That is if you haven't already.

Fingers crossed.

 

It honestly looks like the cylinder head hit the shit out of the spark plug and broke off the electrode. I have heard of this for people who use NON-OEM plugs that are too long and torque them down too far. But never OEM. Check the part number again and make sure they didn't give you the wrong plug. If so whoever gave you that plug should be in BIG trouble.

If anyone on this forum would know what the hell caused it, it would be Jimmyh.

 

Thanks for the advice. After I pulled the plug I backed away slowly and had it towed to a engine shop...fingers very crossed right now.

 

Plug says Denso K20HR-U11 can't recall if that is correct or not, I'll have to dig around, but it was purchased from a local Toyota dealer, so we'll see.

 

Denso K20HR-U11 is a correct plug for the 1GR engine.

Did you get the engine cylinder scoped?

Let us know

 

What is on the outside of the coil shaft? That area should be clean if the spark plug was tight and the seal ring is in place right where the coil mounts to the valve cover.

 

Engine got scopped, mechanic said he didn't see anything that was obviously wrong, and checked the compression (while engine was cold). He recommended replacing the fuel injector, and putting a sleeve in for the spark plug since it stripped the threads. I'll probably also have him replace the coil to be safe. He said that he can't guarantee that that'll be the fix for it without removing the head which he said would start at $1900.

I think its just a little carbon buildup and discoloration...to be honest I'm not 100% sure, but I think I recall all of them being that way last time I did plugs (obviously without the split boot )