just bought a 99 tracker.new guy needing help

hi, I just bought my first tracker.I've always liked the looks of these cars and when I came across a good deal on this one I just had to buy it.

The guy I bought it from said all it needed was the back coil.I bought a new one from the dealer and started on the car.the first thing I came across was the spark plug was gone.He said he didn't pull it and didn't understand were it could have gone.well when I tried screwing the new plug in. it just wouldn't go in.after going threw this for about a hour. I went to auto zone a got a tap kit.I installed the plug and it started up fine.I could hear a bit of a swooshing sound coming from the new coil.I got about 2 miles down the road and it started back fireing really bad.so I had it towed to my house.

The next day I pulled the coil and found that the spark plug was gone again.the coil was shot.nothing was left of the rod part of it. there was no signs of a spark plug ever being there.

what could have done this?could the spark plug really burn up?I"ve never come across anything like this and any help would be great.I just don't know were to start.should I pull the head and see if the plug was sucked into the engine?

WOW!this forum is dead......no help at all????anything?

That sounds really bizarre, last time I heard anything like this was when a buddy of mine bought a used Cavalier and the spark plug kept flying out. He had to get a new Head cause it was cracked. Idk in your case what the problem is but good luck.

WOW!this forum is dead......no help at all????anything?

Some quick questions. Was the plug still in the wire? was the threaded part still in the head and the ceramic part in the wire?

I went through the same problems on my old tracer what happened is the previous owner corssthreaded the spark plug bad and forced it into place. Tapping it isn't going to hold because the soft aluminum head is weaker. Your going to have to buy a new head. (purchase it from a junk yard much cheaper. normally I would say check clearances of the piston to the spark plug but you didn't mention a slapping noise. but when you have the head off I would double check the top of the piston to make sure there were no pits on the top of it that would look like a spark plug was hitting it.

Nate

might as well get a whole new timing belt kit if you're gonna tear apart the cylinder head...

no wonder why it was a good deal; he effed it up & just wanted to get rid of it

Some quick questions. Was the plug still in the wire? was the threaded part still in the head and the ceramic part in the wire?

I went through the same problems on my old tracer what happened is the previous owner corssthreaded the spark plug bad and forced it into place. Tapping it isn't going to hold because the soft aluminum head is weaker. Your going to have to buy a new head. (purchase it from a junk yard much cheaper. normally I would say check clearances of the piston to the spark plug but you didn't mention a slapping noise. but when you have the head off I would double check the top of the piston to make sure there were no pits on the top of it that would look like a spark plug was hitting it.

Nate

thanks guys for responding.

there was nothing of the spark plug left.nothing was left in the spark plug hole.the rod part of the coil really looked as if the spark plug had shot stright up and shredded it.there was also alot of dust on top of the engine.I just hope nothing went into the engine and fucked up anything else.

he finally told me today that it had started acting funny right before this happen to him.he said that it was missing alittle and had thought it needed a tuneup.

I'm going to take the head off today.what else should I replace at this time.I've already orderd a timming belt.I'm also thinking about replacing the water pump at the same time.

I'm having a problem finding used parts for this car.I've emailed alot of people and I'm having no luck here at the junk yards.I really don't want to pay another 140.00 for a new coil just to have this happen again and would hate to see what the head will cost me at the dealer.

Try http://car-part.com/index.htm it will let you search by state/area. Good luck.

don't buy the cyl head from the dealer... you can go for rebuilt aftermarkets instead since dealer cyl heads would also have this option for a cheaper alternative...