96 civic ex with spark plug problem...serious ?

[garlicbreadman]

History on the car:
96 ex civic with probably close to 300k miles
consumes some oil and coolant
overheats due to bad cooling fans

friend came over saying his car had a weird bop bop bop bop noise and i found the problem. His spark plug wire popped out a little and cannot be inserted back all the way. Its still attached enough into the spark plug to get it a spark(i think).I tried to remove the spark plug, but i can't even get the socket in there. This is on cylinder 2, the other three are fine. We started the engine, i put my finger on the spark plug wire of cylinder 2 and feel a push/vibration and i'm thinking...bent rod or misfiring...
Car runs fine still..its weird
What i've tried/done:
blew out the spark plug hole with compressed air(maybe debris? nope wasn't)
can't insert spark plug wire 1 into spark plug 2. so that means spark plug 2 has something physically wrong with it. I also compared the spark plug wires and they are the same length and nothing fell off the spark plug wire.

this is as far as it can be pushed in:

video of the noise: BOP BOP BOP noise is what you're hearing. Click the video


anyone know the problem????

 

[Astro14]

At the risk of overlooking the obvious...did you check the torque on the plug itself, or did you give up when you couldn't get a socket in there?

Sounds like a loose sparkplug to me - combustion gases are getting by, making noise, the insulator is too far up, preventing the wire from seating...go get the correct socket and try it out...

 

[Kruse]

Any chance somebody put in one of those spark plug adapters/anti-foulers? Otherwise, I'm not sure why you couldn't get a spark plug socket in there unless it was full of dirt or caked oil.

 

[MrOctober44]

Oil in the insert around the plug!!!!

 

[chrome]

Can you take a flashlight and peek into the well? It's highly unlikely you can't get a socket onto the plug, unless the wrong size plug is in there, or a physical obstruction.

 

[oggb]

You'll very likely need a thin-walled socket to get it to fit in there. a Standard socket may be too wide (even if the correct size).

Also, the ceramic insulator can develop leaks and let combustion gasses by. I suppose if it were bad enough it could push the insulator up slightly...

 

[Dakota1820]

had a similar issue on a mazda. it was the little rubber skirt around the plug wire that came off and was stuck on the plug making it where the socket would go all the way on the plug.

 

[RH+G]

Looks like spark Plug Wire is no good.
Have to remove the wire look down the hole and get a long needle nose and pull the piece of wire that is probably stuck onto the spark plug
Probably will have to replace the plug afterward too

 

[Lead Shoes]

Ooooo a champion white d16y8, looks like it needs some TLC under the hood....

You need a 5/8 socket plug to get it out, very tight space in there, I used a stanley one from a walmart set to do mine, check to see if some of the plug wire didn't disintegrate and tear off and get stuck around the plug and check the torque on the plug itself.

 

[garlicbreadman]

last time the spark plug was change was about 2 years ago. The noise only appeared about a week ago.

I used the same 5/8 i used to install it. This 5/8 stanley socket fits on the other spark plugs, just not #2. No spark plug wire could fit into cylinder 2 spark plug and number 2 spark plug wire can fit into any of the other spark plugs.

Inside the spark plug hole of 2 look like there was a lot of carbon, it was coated in black soot while the others were very clean.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
last time the spark plug was change was about 2 years ago. The noise only appeared about a week ago.

I used the same 5/8 i used to install it. This 5/8 stanley socket fits on the other spark plugs, just not #2. No spark plug wire could fit into cylinder 2 spark plug and number 2 spark plug wire can fit into any of the other spark plugs.

Inside the spark plug hole of 2 look like there was a lot of carbon, it was coated in black soot while the others were very clean.



Almost sounds as though it un threaded itself and combustion gasses and byproducts built up a deposit in there.

 

[mechtech2]

Al you have to do is look - we can't.