Don't forget about the basics
 

Had a call from a very concerned owner this morning. He was prepping is car for an upcoming race event and the engine sounded a little odd to him. The call was, what could it be.

I told him it could be many things. It could be nothing too. He had done all the normal things by removing the secondary driven parts like the Alternator etc but it still sounded strange. At this point I assumed he had checked the plugs. I had not bothered to ask.

After some time going back and forth, I asked, so what did the plugs show? I don't know was the reply.

One hour later I received a call telling me one plug is covered in deposits that turned out to be piston. I'm thinking the piston has lifted a corner enough to rattle the cylinder. The noise heard.

The plugs should always be the first to be checked. They tell you exactly what is happening inside your engine. At the track, this should be a regular check to ensure you always run in the best condition.

In this case the plug gave the customer really bad news. This should be done after the last run, not just before going to the next. This owner is not going racing, probably bought fuel, tires etc and even hotel accommodation.

Thank you, Neil, as always. A good reminder.

I was at a driving event last fall, and a guy had a sudden misfire with loud noise. A couple of the guys started digging around and found a spark plug had exited the party. It was all they could do to get it reinstalled as the threads were a bit boogered. They were able to finish the event before driving it home from NC to Chicago, but I recently heard that they had to have the cylinder head repaired or replaced.

Something so simple has proper torque on the plugs!