I recently put a new water pump and changed timing belt and pulleys. It ran for a while, then lost compression in #1 cylinder.Spark plug grounding electrode touched piston just enough to touch.
Asked by electrorad1732 Nov 17, 2013 at 04:14 PM about the 2004 Jeep Wrangler SE
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Is this a timing issue? Could the timing have been off just enough to cause piston to
hit grounding electrode on spark plug to bend it to touch positive electrode on plug?
7 Answers
As long as proper plug was installed I don't think so. But if its an interference engine and the timing is off. the piston could hit a valve and bend it into the end of the spark plug causing damage to the plug.
that does not sound like a good thing if your piston is hiting your spark plug that generaly means you have a bad piston rod or you have the wrong spark plugs. the piston should not be touching the spark plug at all as the piston rod only goes so far and its set so it does not go that far. if you heard a loud thunking noise before it did this thats the confirmation that you blew a rod or a valve possibly a piston ring. i can't be sure on this as i don't deal with jeeps so hoping its not any of what i said. do your self a favor open your oil pan and check for any metal debree if theere is then you threw a piston rod or a ring
electrorad1732 answered 10 years ago
what is an interference engine? This is the original engine, Jeep only has 55,000 miles. No loud thunking noise was noticed. It had been loosing power, was running a little hot so I parked , let it cool down and tryed to start it. It would try to run , but no more.
What size motor do you have? An interference engine means that the piston comes close enough to the valves(when the valves are open) to hit them if the timing is off.
Some jeeps do have them.
Ok here's what I have found and its getting confusing. Some trusted sites I use say that 2.4 dohc "vin 1"put in jeep wranglers in 2003-2004 were interference engines. Other sites say that the 2.4 that jeep got from Chrysler for these years was not an interference engine. So here's what I think. I think yours is an interference engine due to the damage to the plug right after a timing belt change. Now with an interference engine the piston can not hit the spark plug but it can hit a valve and bent it into the spark plug. Do a compression check. Hope this helps some.
