Plug/Oil/Did something dumb

I screwed up my 1997 Nissan Altima. Yes it's been a long 4th of July week and I did something dumb. Really dumb.

In changing my plugs I noticed 2 of them had alot of oil in the spark plug cylinder due to a gasket leak. Naturally when the plugs were pulled that oil drained into the spark plug hole. For some reason I poored about 2 tbl spoons of oil in the hole to flush it. I wanted to monitor how much it leaking and for some reason thought that might be a good way of doing it.

the second dumb thing I did was "quickly" turning over the engine 2 or 3 times without putting the 2 plugs in. It popped and immediately quit/yet it obviously never started.

I then put the 2 plugs in...hooked the remaining 2 wires up then unsuccessfully attempted to start the car.

It made some wierd noises...now I just get a single click when I try to turn over.

My radio, ac and battery are fine.

What damage did I do by putting oil (2 tbl spoons) in each plug hole?
What damage did I do by quickly trying to turn it over - 1 sec tops but 3 times?

Any suggestions...as all it does when I turn it over give a single click?

Thank you!

:banghead: oh... my... gyad... man. i do not believe you poured oil into your plug holes.. you know that leads to your combustion chambers, right?? :icon16: i dont know how the hell to fix that, your engine, if salvageable, needs to be flushed of all that oil, by a mechanic who will rip the engine apart and clean it out, the cylinder chambers anyhow. the ONLY substance that should be exposed to your spark plugs/combustion chamber (your so called 'plug holes') is the air fuel mixture, NO OIL!!!

good luck with that buddy.

The same thing often happens to turbo engines when the turbo blows. The oil in the cylinders can't compress so the engine is locked. The starter makes a click each time it tries to turn the engine. This condition can break a starter and even make it fall off of the bellhousing. If you turn the engine backwards the pistons will come up when the exhaust valves are open (it won't lock) and hopefully push enough oil out into the exhaust so you can crank the engine over with the starter with out locking. If you have a manual trans, push the car backward with it in 4th or 5th gear. 50 feet should be plenty. If you have an auto trans remove the sparkplugs and crank the engine with a towel over the sparkplug holes and wipe any oil from the inside of the sparkplug tubes. Repeat the proccess until you get as much oil as possible out of the cylinders. Hopefully the starter doesn't click when you try to start the engine. If the starter still clicks the starter may be broken from trying to turn the locked engine. Make sure that the battery terminals are clean. The overload could cause a bad connection at the battery and make the starter click. If you are cranking an engine with the spark plug wires off of the plugs, the proper procedure explained by every manufacture is to remove the coil wire from the distributor cap and connect that end to ground. Reason #1 is because the ignition system including the ECU can be damaged if you don't. I haven't seen it happen yet but I take their word for it. Reason #2 is that if you don't ground the coil wire, the sparks from the plug wires will start a fire if there is fuel present. I have seen a fire start that way. Don't think it won't happen to you. There wasn't any fuel present before the ignition switch was turned Don't forget to put the wire back into the distributor cap when you try to start the engine. There is no way that any one will get shocked if wires are grounded by touching metal. There is a very good possibility of receiving a heart rhythm altering shock if the plug wires are not touching metal and the coil wire is not grounded. If you have to replace the starter, make sure the oil is out of the cylinders before cranking the engine with the sparkplugs in. Using a long bar to turn the crankshaft is a good way to break something and don't try pushing or towing to start the engine.

You can also make it easier and just turn the engin with a long pry bar attached to the crank. You should remove the SPARKPLUGS from the engine. Removing the cables will do nothing but stop electrical current from going to the plug. You should though make sure they are not touching metal or you may get fried. The above mentioned was done here at work to start a 4 stroke generator that had been HYDROLOCKED with water and oil.