OVER 9000!

I got a pretty good scare last night after I did a compression test on MY02 at a buddies house. I put all the plugs and coils back in, but when I started up and pulled out of my friends drive way, the S was gurgling and sputtering and threatening to die when the rpm's were below 3,500. Also the check engine light came on and was flashing which was definitely not a good thing. So I came back later and took the coils out, made sure all the plugs were tightened and they were so I put the coils back and started up again but nothing was fixed. My friend scanned for the CEL code and it came back with the same code I would get if I had blown my engine. So I had my friend go back through and take everything out and put it all back in and magically it ran fine so I'm guessing it was the spark plugs. Anyways I was just wondering, is it normal for a cross threaded spark plug to really have that much of an effect on engine performance?

T-Smac

I don't think there is a Diagnostic Trouble Code for a blown engine. The dtc would have been a catalyst damaging misfire. Cross-threading the spark plug would have prevented it from going down into the cylinder, at least far enough to allow it to ignite the air/fuel mixture. You also may have damaged the threads in the head, but if your friend screwed them in fine then that might not be the case.


As to your questions. Yes, if the plug can't ignite the air/fuel mixture, then you are down to 3 cylinders and dumping fuel into the catalytic converter.

OVER 9000!

I see. Yeah I didn't see the actual code, my friend just said that that's the code you'd get if you had a blown engine. Yeah I took it out last night and got into vtec and cruised around and all seemed well so I think everything is resolved and the threads are fine. Thanks for the input!

ahrmike

what likely happened was one of your coilpacks wasnt plugged in.