[s-cars] Dodging the bullet; a short story -

[Bob Frizzell]

Mike,
Can you get your hands on an inspection scope to look inside the cylinder?
You might find and be able to retrieve the center electrode.  With luck
there is little or no significant damage.
Just a thought,
Bob 93//S4
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Claire" <mike.claire at gmail.com>
To: <Djdawson2 at aol.com>
Cc: <i.rautenberg at waratap.com>; <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Dodging the bullet; a short story -


> Dave:  I just STFA and found your post.  Ever figure out what it was?  I'm
> asking of course, because I had a similar experience today.  Engine has
> always run smooth, but today developed what sounded like a lifter tap.
> Figured I was a little low on oil since I've heard that noise only once
> before when I was a little more than 1/2 qt down.  No big deal I though.
> About 1/2 later it gets louder and now for the first time ever - the
engine
> begins to stumble.
>
> Coincidence?  I figured maybe an ignition problem, but why the noise?
> Broken valve spring?  I limped it home and pulled the cover and started
> pulling plugs.  They were all tight.  But upon inspection the #4 plug was
> missing the entire center electrode (all the porcelain was intact though).
>
> Not too happy - this is a proper F5DPOR.  The insulator is completely
loose
> and slides back and forth about a full 1/8".  So what I thought was tappet
> noise was really the insulator slamming up and down on every stroke.
Until
> finally it lost the electrode.
>
> How concerned should I be about internal damage?  I don't know how long
that
> electrode is, but I don't think the chances of it getting out of the
engine
> without wrecking a valve seat or scoring the cylinder wall can be very
> good.  If it damaged anything, I hope it's the turbine blade since I'm
> running the original K24.
>
> I have never tracked the car, and although it sees high boost all the time
> (Uncle Bob's 1+), I bet I baby this car compared to a lot of you guys.  Wh
at
> bothers me is that I don't think I did anything wrong, and there's nothing
> we can do differently to avoid this from happening again.
>
>
>
> Mike
>
> On 3/4/06, Djdawson2 at aol.com <Djdawson2 at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 3/4/2006 1:33:01 PM Mountain Standard Time,
> > irautenberg at comcast.net writes:
> >
> > Any update, Dave?  Did you switch  injectors?  Still intrigued.
> >
> > Ingo
> >
> >
> >
> > Ingo (or, Out-Come),
> >
> > Update...
> > Well, I left LA yesterday at noon mountain time.  Unfortunately,  I had
to
> > return to Boise.  The trip was fun, being predominantly back roads  in
CA
> > and
> > NV... very empty... a "little" over the posted limit.
> >
> > I was driving up route 95 after a 50 miles stint on I-80.  No sooner
did
> > I
> > cross the OR state line, the WORST snow storm I have ever driven
> > in  began.
> > Thank goodness for my Audi.  This road is remote enough that  plow
> > equipment was
> > not seen anywhere that night... except as I neared  I-84.  Started as a
> > heavy
> > wet snow, and eventually turned into near white  out conditions, with
very
> > high winds.  As such, the tracks from previous  vehicles began to
> > disappear, and
> > soon, I was driving through nearly 1 foot of  snow, hoping I was going
the
> > right direction.  Sometimes it was deep enough  that the snow "plowed"
by
> > the
> > front of my car started blowing up over the hood,  rather than passing
> > underneath.
> >
> > Now to your question... during this storm, the intermittent miss started
> > again.  I pressed on, knowing I shouldn't, but had no desire to get out
> > of  the
> > car and change a plug in that storm.  After about an hour, the miss
"went
> > away."  I arrived in Boise at 3:30am, 15.5 hours after my  departure...
> > probably a
> > new record worst for me.
> >
> > Now that I'm here, I will be pulling the #4 plug to see if the post is
> > beginning to drop out.  If it is, I am going to change the plug, and
> > swap  the #4
> > injector into a different cylinder.  I will be driving 830 miles  back
to
> > Denver on Monday... so I'll be able to see if the problem moves with
> > the  injector.
> >
> > It would be nice if it did, as I'd like to narrow this down.  As a  side
> > note, I'm going to be getting a couple of different flavors of NGK plugs
> > to  try
> > in this engine as well.
> >
> > Take care,
> > Dave
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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