Hello.. Last week I blew my sparkplug in cylinder 1 right out.. I did the time sert repair kit and it worked great. I wanted to Know if anybody has done the same and what has there been there long term results..

 

I also used high heat red loctite on the sert and replaced all the plugs.. Hopefully it holds long term.. I got the new plug in the repaired hole as tight as the others. That did give me a sense of confidence moving forward..

 

It's been a year or so since I installed a timesert (with loctite as well) and it's holding. Haven't changed the plugs since then, but I'm farily confident it won't move.

 

same here too lock tight red.
No issues so far.# 3 blow out on me. Have 15% with a lower 2%. I let it warm up a few more minutes each morning now too just to be cautious of thermal expansion and contraction with the pressure we pump out.

 

So far so good.. Cool morning here.. Let the mini warm up and idle for a while and took it out local.. Then ran it out on the highway and checked the tightness of the plugs after..All seem (including the time sert one), as as tight as the rest.. Did about 40 miles and total running time of and hour.. I am getting confident it will hold.. Nice to hear others have a year under the repair.. I feel the tightness of the plugs should be checked regularly considering the issues we have been having.. I bought a shop vac mini attachment kit and was able to get all the chips out during my repair.. Just some info for others considering the repair..

 

I also read keeping a "Jb weld high heat putty" would be a good thing to keep in the tool box for the unfortunate blown plug happening far from home.(along with other fixes). Enough to get you back home..

 

I've filled the tap with grease and made a couple passes, cleaning and re-greasing the tap. Taped a small plastic tube on the shopvac and got everything I could. It is a bit scary how much aluminium it takes out when doing the install, but everything is fine. Mini is the only car that got me thinking about using a torque wrench for plugs... never had a problems with other cars with the usual technique.

 

It's a common repair on many cars. If you put the timesert in properly it shouldn't be going anywhere.

 

how does one blow out a spark plug?

 

It gets loose and the pressure do the rest. Mine was on cylinder 1 as well.

 

I guess it is wise to check the spark plugs once every few gas fill-ups.

 

I check mine at each oil change at 5000 miles. 22ft/lbs stone cold. Never have any been loose.

///Rich