What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

When it rains it pours, as they say. Anyone wanna tell me how in the hell….
So, after I replaced my accessory belt tensioner pulley, truck seemed to run a lil rough. Pulled codes and see a P0171. First thought was - vacuum leak. Couldn’t find one. CEL on and misfiring. Drove maybe a mile, and CEL starts flashing. Engine noise bad. Misfire code on cylinder 2. Pulled coil and it was a little burnt and cracked at the end. Pulled the plug and found this.

 

What in the actual fuck?!

I've seen a center electrode blown to shit, but I've never seen the ground arm and center electrode missing. And that's gotta be down in the cylinder somewhere. Shit man.

Time to rig up a vacuum hose onto the vacuum and get vacuuming. Fingers crossed for you, brother. Go with Iridium plugs next go-round?

 

Thats rough man.

The focus of the photo is a little out, hard to tell what were working with in regard to what's left of the plug. Is that corrosion around the threads and the electrode strap?

Regardless of what caused it, if that electrode was bouncing around the top end its gonna be ugly. I'd start with a borescope in that cylinder.

 

What plugs are these and where did you get them?

 

Champion plugs. 7346

 

Is that anti sneeze on the threads?

 

Champion? Like for a lawn mower? That seriously sucks man. I hope there isn’t significant carnage and the cylinder can be saved! I would be concerned about counterfeit plugs the way that one fell apart.

 

Champion makes plugs for vehicles too but yeah, idk. I only buy plugs from vatozone or o’reallys

 

Them threads are damaged/burned/chewed up.

 

Should probably pull a few more plugs eh?

 

Need to borescope the cylinder for sure to see cylinder walls, cylinder surface, valves, check for remaining debris and even the spark plug threads. Would also check the oil for glitter.

 

Yeah, I'll be shocked if that cylinder is salvageable.

 

That center insulator looks like it's poked out 1/4' farther than it should be.
I'll start chanting and meditating for a good outcome for you...

 

Dont say that

 

Whatever came off the plug probably just burnt up completely and cleanly, exiting thru the exhaust. Trying to be unrealistically optimistic here.

 

Sorry man, but that's the truth.

Its worth inspecting and seeing what you've got.

USB Snake Inspection Camera, FANTRONICS Scope Camera with 8 LED Lights IP67 Waterproof Semi-Rigid Snake Cord USB C Borescope for iPhone, iPad and Android Phone (16.4ft)

A cheap amazon scope would take all the mystery out of it.

 

I’ve got one but it’s at my house 25 miles away.

 

Completely possible to bounce out the exhaust with minimal damage if you are lucky.

Got someone to run you home or run it out to you from home? Otherwise uber/lyft round trip?


I've had a friend try autolite plugs in their honda ONCE. Immediately fried the ignition coil due to wrong resistance.


Ngk or denso only for imports.

 

Just found one near me for $30 on FB marketplace. New in box. Waiting for a response

 

Haven’t heard this before.
No Bosch?

 

You need to read the mega thread!!!
https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

 

I got my Iridium Densos from Advance Auto Parts.

It's NGK for me, unless it's Denso. Fuck everyone else. Advance Auto carries both brands.

 

I’ve never seen that on a n/a engine. You running boost or nitrous?

non-vvti engines call for copper plugs.

 

@shifty` @JakeJake @KNABORES @assassin10000 @anyoneelse
How does that happen? I first got a p0171 code, then just misfire codes but; Is it possible that a lean condition would cause a plug to fail like that?

 

A plug firing too hot would cause the electrode to melt off and explode. Defective part will do it. Best guess that's what happened if you're running Denso coil packs.

It happened to me on a catering box truck I was driving back from catering someone's Bar Mitzvah in Melbourne FL while working for a catering company in central FL. We had to bail and leave the truck on the side of the road, had already worked a 16hr shift, driving inclusive, and we were all too tired to deal with it at the time. But even then, only the very tip of the hooked ground electrode was toast, the center electrode was mushroomed, and part of the ceramic had cut burned into it. Yours looks like you melted it threads and all.

 

So you’re saying I could throw a new plug in it and run it. Good as new. Gotcha. Another shitty part- I never did find a vacuum leak

 

A lean mixture can generate enough heat to get things melty, as can poor valve sealing, and to far advanced advanced ignition timing. Probably a cascade of failures as it continued to run.

Like @Sirfive said, not really common in NA engines. We sometimes forget that these things are just controlled explosions With the right air/fuel/timing jet fuel can melt steel beams.

 

Send it (with video)

or

inspect it, then send it.

 

You asking if it were me?

I'd scope the cylinder to make sure there's nothing in it.

If it's not clear, I'd vacuum it.
If it was clear, I'd pop a plug in it and send it.

When I got home, I'd mark that coil pack with a scratch in the top, proceed to pull every damn plug and put new NGK or Denso in it, then reinstall that coil pack on another cylinder.

I'd check the plug in that one cylinder with the scratched coil pack in 1k-2k miles, and the plug in the cylinder that just had the plug disintegrate and make sure they both look OK.

EDIT: Only reason I recommend marking that coil pack is for reference later. By putting it on another cylinder, you can monitor that plug and know if it's too hot because the coil pack is failing, and you can monitor the spark plug on the cylinder that had the issue just the same, in case it's something specific to that cylinder, like running lean.