I was driving around yesterday with no problems when out of nowhere a loud bang came from under the hood followed by what sounded like a popped tire hitting against the wheel well.

Popped the hood and found that the #3 spark plug had blown out of the cylinder leaving a noticeable dent which even made a crack in the paint on the top side of the hood. When I tried to replace the plug with a new one I noticed there was no longer any threads for the spark plug to screw into and had to have it towed.

The engine still started (but sounded awful) and for some reason no check engine lights came on. I replaced the head gasket myself about 6 months ago as well as swapping out the studs with ARP's, and this is the first problem ive had since.

can the hole can simply be re threaded? Or is the problem more likely the piston has snapped off the rod and screwed up the entire cylinder? Any advice/input would be much appreciated.

Engine is a D16Y8 with 147k

Thanks!

 

This happens because the plug was not properly tightened. It wobbles around until the threads are gone, then blows out.

 

So it can most likely be re threaded?

 

Not sure if you got the problem fixed yet but that happened to me in my truck. Autozone sells a re-threading kit for it but I couldn't get mine to take it or the new plug. I tried everything but ended up having to go to the dealer to get an insert put in for the new plug. Cost a lil over $100 but truck runs great, haven't had a problem since and that was 2 years ago.