Spark plug blow out on 2002 2.7; Garage says need total rebuild or swap???

Hey all! My friend Heather's truck died on the highway when she loaned it out this weekend. It was towed to a fairly reputable garage and they are saying that a plug disintegrated and that parts of it are in the cylinder (they believe). I helped Heather buy this truck in January and it drives great. She's put about 5,000 miles on it with no issues. Less than 200,000 on it. 4 wheel drive, 5 speed. I think we're going to tow it to a buddies home garage and pull the head off. Anyone care to chime in on where we go from here and if you've seen this before Thanks!!

 

If they won't charge you at your buddies pull the head and the oil pan and thoroughly inspect the block for any damage. If they charge you a lot then I'd just swap out the engine for a fresher one.

 

I'd want to check it out before doing all the work of pulling the head. I mean get one of those little inspection cameras and check the inside of the cylinder. If there are any pieces in there try to get them out somehow. Then do a compression test. If compression is fine and the spark plug hole threads are fine then you're good.

The fact that it died completely while running might mean there's a bigger problem.

 

I agree. Inspection camera, then hook a small hose to a shop vac. & suck out remaining parts.
Died completely: Hopefully it's an easy fix bad coils or failed fuel pump.

 

Update: Apparently the check engine light came on a while back and then, a couple days before the plug blew apart, there was power loss. Then it got loaned out and died. I am going to talk with the person who was driving at the time to get more info on the manner in which it quit. We move the truck to a friends home garage soon and then I'll have photos and more information. Inspection camera is being hunted down. Thanks for the input! I'll post an update when we get into it.

 

Update: Looks like the spark plug hole was helicoiled previously. We have the valve cover off and are trying to get the spark plug tube out. Any ideas on how to do this. Can I order a new tube in the event I wreck this one pulling it out? It is just press fit in right?

 

I've got the #3 cylinder helicoiled on my 2.7 ext cab and unfortunately it's popped out twice. Fortunately the shop has it guaranteed for 60k miles and became familiar with the real issue when it popped again and took care of no problem. Being nearly a year ago I forget why it happened when he explained it to me but distinctly remember him emphasizing that it's one of those things that really require the finess of a mechanic who has done that repair many times before. Ultimately giving me piece of mind it would be done so that it should it fail it would fall into the cylinder causing havoc breaking down running into my exhaust and shredding my catalytic converter, O2 sensors and creating more problem then i already have. 80k or so later and i haven't had another problem with it. By no means do i claim to know your mechanical know how or aptitude. It seems to be an inexpensive enough repair that (knocking on wood) should the worst happen they'll bite the bullet and not you.
Btw if need be when you drive it before the repair disconnecting the fuel and spark wires to the cylinder can save hidden hazards of fire and such.

 

We're done and it runs great! The #2 spark plug hole had NOT been helicoiled but had been hammered oversized by the plug itself. It was a Bosch plug. We found a couple different types of plugs in the thing and have switched to Denso plugs. We ended up buying the Time-Sert tool and found it to be easy to use and well made. We did valve cover and spark plug tube seals while we were in there. Purs like a kitten. On to the next project.

 

Did you remove the tube? If so, how?

 

Same thing happened to a bmw of mine. I vacuumed out the cylinder as described above, and drilled the head for a helicoil (using a heavy grease to grab the chips when drilling. Put 100k on that thing afterword.

 

We gave up on pulling the tube out and went with the Time-Sert tool to rethread the spark plug hole. Some folks weld a longer handle on a helicoil kit to reach down into the tube.

 

Thanks for the info.