I was reading on another forum, post #10 caught my attention:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=898749

Has anyone here ever heard of such a thing?

 

No but a few beers can mess up a tuneup something bad like...a piece of loose carbon is not going to be enough to send a properly gapped plug to 0 if even move it at all (doubtful) Just like the computer tech always says.. 99% of errors happen between the keyboard and index finger I just hope billy bob can manage to get granpas ride back in order...

 

ROTFLMAO Bob!!!! IRRC, at beer:45 anything goes, and everyone tries!!!!

I try to remember all the times people are gracious to me when I do really stupid things; which is quite often. So yeah, I'll apply that to the original poster. Even more dubious is that they are talking about an '01 which probably has a knock sensor. The, uh, PLOT deepens...

I just never heard of detonation doing that in particular.

 

No detonation can't do that. The wrong type of spark plugs can, bad bearings letting the piston come up to far in the bore (but usually the thing rattles like a ***** in a TB clinic). I've also seen a serious case of over reving do it. But the wrong plugs would be first choice.

 

Not sure what the heck he was thinking to pull the head for this. Ok so "maybe"you can see a ding in the piston....can you solve it from here ? NO... either the rods were "way"loose as hell at one end or the other.
Two probablies in my book:
(A) Probably due to junior's right foot over the years going to the corner store..(unlikely)
(B) or Billy gets 8 plugs from the parts store, opens box A and checks gap (finds it to be in spec) installs 2-7 based on his findings for plug #1 (no reference to cyl install location)...

I'M guessing it's (B)

 

I tried the link, but it seems, he doing some work to the server now.

This happened once to me on a four cylinder, my commuter car.
I was driving home from work one day, and all of a sudden the engine starts to miss really bad. I'm like what s going on here.

The next day, I going thru the diagnostic checks, and start pulling spark plug wires and notice the number three cylinder had no change in idle when removed. I pull the spark plug, and sure enough, the side electrode is bent in all the way towards the center electrode. I shake my head in disbelief, I thinking something in the cylinder, slamming up and down, and now something is going to get damaged or ruin.

I decide to R&R the cylinder head and check what had fallen in the cylinder. Now I'm wondering what could this object in cylinder be?
I pull off the cylinder head, and look down the cylinder.
There was nothing in the cylinder. I just wanted to ease my mind and make sure nothing had fallen in. Replaced gaskets, and install new plug, everything ran perfect till the day I sold the car.

Could never figure what had caused this, maybe a foreign object in cylinder, or a weak side electrode.

 

Hey, I had the same thing.....and on a motor I had just recently put together, for my '93 Mitsubishi!......one of the plugs gap got closed.....I just reset the gap on that plug(and all the rest), and put them back in, and it was fine after that. I know there shouldn't be anything in there cuz it was a brand new motor! I knew the bearings were fine too!, but haven't had the problem since though! one of those things that scares you to question what was going on in a brand new motor, but also one of those things where you hate the car so much, that you just forget about!, like when it makes a funny noise, so you just play the radio louder!....lol

 

I know what you saying, it had me wondering what had went on.

 

I only wondered what happen a little though.....I hate the motor, or anything to do w/ the underhood part of that car, so I just regapped it, and kept going, and forgot about it!....lol

I figured if it was something bad, I'd find out sonner of later anyways!

 

At the about the same time my spark gap went bad, this buddy had taken in, his engine on a Dodge Stealth, to the dealership for an intake gasket replacement (oil leak, sha -ching).

He take it back to the dealership, and they replace the timing chain (sha -ching).
Engine still making noise (clickety click noise), he asked me what I thought, and I told him they probably dropped something down the intake, and not to be driving the car.
He takes it to another mechanic, they remove the head, sure and behold a small washer, that was dropped down the intake was in the piston cylinder.
The first mechanic had dropped one of those small washer that was on the intake, down the lower intake.

It turns out the cylinder head is damaged beyond repair. Know the engine needs a head (sha- ching) . I told him look around the pick-n-pull yards, and he locates one. (sha-ching). Take the engine to the machine shop and the head needs some valves (sha-ching). Luckily the piston wasn't damaged.

Magnetic trays work great in holding those bolt, nuts, and washers, from fallen.

 

Yep thats the whole reason I refuse to let someone work on my chit!! If it isn't just plain stupidity, it's that their to damn lazy to correct their own mistakes 99% of the time. "I'm paying for it by the hour, so WTF!!"

 

good call Redman!, yea, the reason I had to rebuild my motor, is because it broke an intake valve off, and it went into the cylinder....I drove it for another 2 days like that, but it had no ***** only running on 3 cylinders so I had to rev it to like 7K RPM's to make it upo the hills......it made so much racket!.....I loved it!.....lucky me, I had just finished porting another head I had off another motor, and doing a valve job on it myself, so I just took the bottom end from another motor I picked up for free, and put that head on it, and it runs great now......except for that for some reason it flattened out that electrode a little while ago!......but I won't let that bother me!

 

I have a mustang that has detonated and closed the gap on #4 3 times and closed the gap completely. I had never heard of detonation doing either until it did it to me. The only differance is im running 11psi of boost on it. I would be checking your piston to see if and peices are missing, mine is comming apart above the compression ring but still holds pressure and runs great, I just cant get on it anymore or it will blow up the piston. So most likely if it detonated then you might have tore up a piston and the little piece came off and closed the piston gap. Unless of course high heat+detonation can cause the element to get soft and the force of detonation closed the gap but usually thats only under forced induction.

 

i had my 302 in my grand marquis do that twice... but it didnt just close the gap... it completely fried both the inner and outer electrode... i think i still have the plug in the ashtray... i kept the first one as a souvenir

 

Dentonation closing the plug gap is physically impossible. Something else caused it.