spark plug denting

[nogoodscallywag]

I drive a 2003 Cavalier. Last year I added nitrous to it and have haad no problems at all. However, during the winter, i have encountered a problem. I take my nitrous out during winter and do not use it at all.

One day I was driving normally and got up past 3000 rpm when I had a sudden lag in power and a sound like one of my cylinders was not firing properly.

My check engine light lit up and and I released the gas and cruised to a stop. My car kept running, however, but it acted as if, like it sounded like, one of my cylinders were not firing.

I drove it home and checked all my plugs. The plug closest to the driver's side wheel was pushed in a bit with some indication on the very tip that it ahd been hit. I guessed at the time that the cylinder must have hit the tip of the plug, causing the gap to become virtually non existant.

I regapped the plug and had no other problems until a week later. I had gotten up past 3000 rpm in the meantime and experienced no probs. However, this time it happened again but this time the car actually died and stopped running, causing me to pull over immediately. After trying to start up quickly and failing, I let it sit for a minute and then was able to restart it. Once again, the same problem had occurred as I rechecked the plug. I went and bought a new plug, this one much shorter than the other one. I put it in and everything ran fine until a few days later when the problem occured again. Only this time I had lots of people in my car with suitcases in the trunk, and was not over 3000 rpm when it happaned. Once again I checked and the plug tip had been dented in obviously.

I am not exactly sure how my piston could be hitting my spark plug on that side only. Perhaps whatever the bottom of the piston is attached to is loose somehow (I assume from running nitrous). Is there an easy way to open up the block and fix this?

Has anyone else had this problem? The new spark plug has already gotten a bad carbon buildup also after being in for about a week. My check engine light is off now but I assume my o2 sensor may be bad. However, if I don't go above 3000 rpm I have no problem. I would imagine the problem will only get worse, though.
Any suggestions?

[papabear1800]

It appears mr nogoodscallywag (quite a unique name) may have been right. My car has experienced this problem on track in Indianapolis. Only I had the supercharger and nitrous on my machine, the plugs were being hit on three of my cyclinders, during one nitrous run.

The piston point had obviously banged into the spark plug and caused the gap to become less. The very tip of the plug had small indentations on it as well as the point of the piston. Indeed, the piston was rising too high for my cylinder and plug. I wasn't sure exaclty what caused the problems so I just switched and rebuilt the engine.

As far as something flying around inside there mr nogoodscallywag, I do not believe this is the problem. You say you experience this a few times without the nitrous running? Do you have an MSD or timing device for this? It is nitrous related but if there is something broken inside thenyou would be having problems at all ranges of rpm cycles. The fact that you experience this only occasionally above 3000rpm proves this.

I would not recommend you driving the vehicle until the situation is solved. Never hurts to be safe with the engine.

It is unfortunate, since I am new to this site, that people have degenerated in judging others. I visited yesterday and read through GM forums and today decided to reply to many of them when I had time. Name calling on a forum is a bit childish, but then again so is banning someone and erasing all posts or misspelling a name to be funny.

Perhaps the moderators will grow up as well and help this mr nogoodscallywag in his or her endeavours for knowledge. Mr nogoodscallywag needs to be prepared to open the head up and take a look, but I understand the quest for knowledge before doing so, and it appears from yesterdays posts he is prepared to do so.

Let us know what you find under the head. I would expect no pieces floating around as you encounter no problems at other times of operations. I would be interested to see if your piston point is dented slightly.

[spudracer73]

dude there is no way to open the engine up unless you have a gigantic can opener. other than that the only way to check what is going on is to tear down the block. you probably got a loose wrist pin. is the engine making noise when your driving? I mean dude i would be suprised it's not knocking if you piston is slapping the plug.