I think I just blew my engine

[PattyG]

I wasn't too happy about an hour ago and decided to take it out on my car.
I took it out in the middle of no where and pounded the gas at about 6000RPM's in 4th it was acting wierd hit 5th now something was wrong slowed down turned a corner and car died.
Started it back up something was wrong!!! Saw smoke coming out from under hood and turned her off and popped the hood took off the oil cap and lots of white smoke was coming out.
It slowly came to a stop and I got back in the car and tried to start her she didn't ok lets cut to the chase I finally got her started and drove her about 3 miles( she was back firing the whole way) to my friends work we pull the spark plugs and sure enough cylinders # 2 & 4 had almost completly melted the little prong.
I have my brother bring 2 new plugs from home and I put them in and it doesn't drive any better if not worse then before with the bad plugs. what else could it be please help


Please don't flame me I'm in a very emotional state as of now.

 

[shaunman1979]

Ouch! Dosent sound good. If you only hit 6000 thats rapping it pretty hard, but I think the 4g63 should be able to handle that. For starters, do you have access to a compression tester? That would be a good place to start. Check the cam gears make sure they are aligned, you may have jumped timing. Check the oil and look for water could be a head gasket. Thats all I can think of right now. Does the car still start ok? or does it take some cranking to get it going?

 

[wvturbo2]

redline is like 7100 so its not like you were banging it off the rev limit. what are mods to your car ? How long were you running it like that? Your side mount could have got heat socked and you could have been knocking real bad i dont really know, but i'd say a wiseman will pop in and help just hold in there. Also do what he said check compression, I'd bet its a headgasket.

 

[Eagle18g]

You said the spark plugs were almost melted but did your water temp go up? Also what color is the exhaust coming out the back that can tell you a lot about the state of your rings, head gasket, etc. A compression test is a good idea. If it just over heated might have a blown head gasket or just a coolant leak make sure you have coolant and Oil. (Some simple stuff but this is the newbie forum you never know with some people) I know how you feel though my car is giving me crap too and it pretty much makes me want to punch a baby

 

[cc4ever]

You said that there was smoke pouring out of your hood and you had melted plugs. That sounds like some serious overheating to me. Bad things can happen from this. Blocks and heads can warp and gaskets can go bad. White smoke is coolant, and if it's mixing with your oil then there is a good chance you have a bad head gasket.

 

[fwdeclipse]

You dont melt spark plugs because of hot water temps.It is gonna take some good detonation to do that.You probably melted some pistons.First thing i would do is a compression test.Post back the results.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

Ouch! Sounds like what my wife does when she gets pissed off (of course she doesn't drive the Eclipse).

On a decently maintained car 6K is not really pushing it. I've bounced of the rev limiter (7500 on a 2G) a few times (mainly 1st gear), however, as stated unless you're just constantly hitting it there shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know the "state" of your car as far as maintenance goes.........last time anything was done.

Now for it.......
Detonation sounds to be the issue that caused the plugs to burn up. It could have been caused by one or more factors that crop up especially on older cars.........boost leaks, clogged/worn out injectors that just don't deliver like they should, the 6K romp if the car is not up to par, etc.

And everyone has pretty much nailed it.......

More than likely you've either blown a head gasket, burnt up some valve(s) or piston(s), or a combination of the above.

About all you can do now is, as suggested, do a compression test and depending on the numbers a leak-down test. Check the oil and water to see if they've mixed.



Winter project time.

 

[PattyG]

I've driven the car hard before with no problems I had new plugs, wires, oil changed 1500 miles ago, coolant flushed and refilled.
When I put in the new plug it was still dumping gas into the exhaust (backfiring)
Also when I was about home it was throwing a CEL code and was starting to knock.
I will pull the code and do all the tests tomorrow.

Now I will go cry myself to sleep

 

[ba109296]

Do a compression test. Then when you get that done do a leak down test to find out exactly where the problem is. That little piece probably got stuck in the cylinder head and bounced around which in turn probably caused all kinds of havoc.

 

[toybreaker]

Did it feel like it was pulling hard right before it started acting up?

If it kind of layed down/faded after a few seconds, I would suggest you look at the fuel system, specifically the fuel filter. If it's clogged/restricted, the engine could have starved for fuel, leaned out some, and melted the tips of a plug or two.

If you saved the old plugs, I would also suggest you look carefully at the tips of the other, relatively undamaged plugs. (I like to use a jewlers loupe, but a 10x magnifying glass, and a strong light work just as well.) Are the tips blistered white, with little ball looking deposits down on the ceramic? That's a sign that the whole engine was stressed, and may have been detonating. If that's the case, then you may have lifted the head, cracked a ring land or something similiar.

If the other plugs don't look too evil, I would spend some more time investigating the current state of the engine. A compression and leak down test, (as was already suggested ), will show the mechanical health/state of the rings/valves/headgasket, and etc.

If the motor checks out mechanically, I would spend some time looking at the plug wires and coils. When the tip burns off a plug, the voltage required to fire it increases dramatically. This can burn the conductor inside the plug wire, resulting in an open plug wire, and/or very high secondary resistance. This will make the car run very poorly. (Simply replacing the spark plugs won't cure the damage that occured to the wire, and the car will still run poorly on the cylinders with the dead wires.) An ohmeter test will also help you to determine if the wires are still o.k.

High secondary resistance can also burn up the ignition coils, also making the car run very poorly.

Then, there's the ecu...There are several ecu failure modes that can mimic engine damage.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't give up hope, and please, thoroughly check the motor out before condeming it. The 4g63t motor is amazingly tough. If the cas/coils/ecu fail, it can fuel up a couple of cylinders, creating copious quantities of smoke, and scare the beejeezus out of you. And yet after everything is made right, it can shake it off and give a few more years service.

Good luck, and please let us know what you find.

 

[PattyG]

I'm thinking It just leaned melted the plugs ruined the o2 sensor and made it run bad.
This is absolutely my guess I've been sick (Flu) and haven't had a chance to diagnosis the car.
My oil other then being a little blacker then I like is fine, my coolant isn't oily.

 

[hereitcomes]

If your hearing a small knock, you could be starting a bearing problem. You overheated a little bit, and the car shut off - exactly what mine did after turning a corner to get off the Freeway. I started mine back up and I couldnt even drive it home the knock was so bad. I also didnt rev mine that much, I was at 6k in 3rd gear and went into 4th.
Best bet would be a compression test and find the cylender that is bad.