Q: Helicoiled spark plug
Hello,
I recently bought a car and it was runing fine for a few months and then I noticed it started to jitter a little bit when accelerating but it went away but a few days later it came back again this time the check engine light came on, too.
I started my car next day and it sounded really bad no real power to it so I called a mobile mechanic and he said the spark plug in cylinder one has been helicoiled.. he replaced the coil pack (for whatever reason I don't know) but that didn't fix the issue.
Basically he's saying the car is no good.. Is this true? Over a simple spark plug that needs replacing?
Can't I just buy one that fits? He did show me the comparison from the cylinder one plug to the others and I noticed the screw bottom part of the plug is wider..
What can I do in this situation?
My car has a manual transmission.
A helicoil in a spark plug hole of the aluminum cylinder head was installed in the past due to a spark plug threads in the cylinder head came out during spark plug removal or the spark plug blew out of the hole from weak aluminum threads. The helicoil is installed to try to fix the problem of the missing threads and if not done correctly with the correct helicoil can damage the cylinder head to the point it will need to have a new cylinder head installed. Sometimes the cylinder head can be removed and a machine shop can install a new helicoil that can be a more permanent fix or the head will need to be replaced. The engine will not run correct with a leaking spark plug hole and should be repaired or the head replaced to seal up the spark plug.
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