Broken peice of spark plug fell into Cylinder?

Question

Me and my brother was changing the Spark Plugs on my 1.1 peugeot 205 when a plug broke leaving a small 5mm peice to fall into the cylinder, when running the car cuts out on tick over and blows out grey smoke. Is our only way around it to take the head off and get it out?

Thanks

Thanks for all your advice, the peice was ceramic, as it was being unscrewed it broke, and then when lifted out the ceramic peice fell into cylinder. Sounds like an expensive job ahead now :(

Answer 1

Hi......I would guess the damage has started according to what you have stated....Take the head off NOW before anymore damage is done,The piece could Damage the Valve and crack the Head.Remove and have machine shop check the Head,Replace Gasket and Tork to specs

Answer 2

Too late now, but the correct thing is to catch the broken bit with some Blue-Tak on the end of a wire and make sure it is all out. The business end of a spark plug is very hard and will have damaged the piston or cylinder bore. There used to be a tractor engine that was started by firing a 12 bore cartridge into the cylinder - "The lead shot passes harmlessly through the exhaust" - but that was a 5 litre single cylinder, so everything was a bit bigger.

Answer 3

Easy done. You shouldn't have tried to run it though. The smoke is probably due to your valve being jammed slightly open by the piece of ceramic. Now the air, burnt gasses and fuel are moving about where/when they shouldn't, causing the smoke and erractic tickover.
Try getting a very powerful vacuum cleaner on the spark plug bore. This will involve maintaining a good seal on the cylinder head to give it the best chance of working. Don't forget to clean out the vacuum cleaner first so you know whether its worked. If this doesn't work then you will need to take the head off and assess the damage if any.

Answer 4

good chance you will have to take head off now, wasnt the best plan to start engine with foreign objects in the cylinder,however try and retive it out with a vacumm and if it still runs like crap, you could expect either: valves,piston,rings,rebore,honed, to be done whch could be espensive, however a 205 is an old car would it be economical repair, as the repair job could be expensive, and based on what you have said (starting engine with objects in cylinder)i wouldnt try and do yourself, it will be a garage job,,

i personlly would scrap the car, but if you get repair, id say the ceramic is jamed on your exhaust valve, which would make yu lose compression ie cutting out and fuel not being burned ie grey reek, so you might get away with taking the rocker cover off (assuming its an ohv) and try dislodge that way by pressing the valves down whilst at bdc (piston is at bottom of engine) and the long nose pliers and retrieving it

good luck mr?

Answer 5

If it is now smoking and was not before the piece was dropped into the cylinder, the damage has already occured. Depending on what the material that you dropped was made out of, piston, bore, cylinder head, and block damage has probably already happened. It should not have been started with the material in the cylinder. The head should have been removed and the piece taken out, or tried to vacuum it out or reach it with a magnet before you started the engine.

Answer 6

You now need to get the cylinder bored out and new pistons if you are lucky maybe you could get by with just a hone and new rings.

Answer 7

You should not have run the engine with broken sparkplug pieces in the cylinder!!!

You now have a bent exhaust valve.

Yeah, your going to have to pull the head AND FIX THE DAMAGE YOU CAUSED BY RUNNING IT.

Answer 8

you don,t say if it is metal or ceramic I would bring up the piston by hand and make a large cotton bud type of gadget
and put plenty of thick grease on it you may be lucky to pick up the fragment that way good luck.

Answer 9

yes pull head and see if you busted,piston,head or block or if you bent any valves also check cylinder wall carefully for deep scratches,cracks ,etc have the head rebuilt and checked out carefully,maybe you want have to replace engine,DO NOT RUN CAR

Answer 10

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