Please Help!!!
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 834
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From: new york and providence (for school)
Please Help!!!
The other day i turned on my car to hear a loud pop and my engine was making horrbile noises. Turned out one of my spark plugs had shot straight out and hit the hood of my car, stripping the threads on my head. since i only have mini road side assistance the car was towed to mini of peabody in Mass. I had denso spark plugs installed last july at hartford by randy webb, but peabody was willing to eat the charges of the new spark plugs, even though they were not stock. turns out, however that the damage on the head is so bad that the machine shop could not just re-tap the hole and they have to fill it with metal and re-tap it, which is VERY expensive.
as you guys have read on this forum this seems to be a common problem, and people who have checked their spark plugs have noticed that they have become loose. one idea about the reason for this is that the supercharger and the intake are right above the header and they produce a lot of heat which gets trapped and causes the metal to expand, causing the spark plugs to weasel their way out over time. no mini rep will agree with this theory because that would mean they are agreeing to an inherent problem with the cars engineering. if this is the case, everyone who doesn't check the torque on their spark plugs every so often will probably be the victim of this, and because mini has not had enough complaints, they will blame whoever installed the plugs. If it was mini then youre ok, but if you have aftermarket plugs, you are out of luck. you will have to pay for it.
never the less, the point is i need your help. if you have had this happen to you, or have checked your spark plugs and had to torque them, or if you read this and go check and see that any of them are loose, please call and file a complaint with mini 1-866-ASK-MINI.
hopefully if enough of us complain we can help resolve the issue so that none of us have to pay to have this fixed. i know you take risks when you get performance parts, but i believe that randy torqued the plugs correctly the first time. the problem is with mini and it should end there.
please help!
thanks in advance!
-Amanda
as you guys have read on this forum this seems to be a common problem, and people who have checked their spark plugs have noticed that they have become loose. one idea about the reason for this is that the supercharger and the intake are right above the header and they produce a lot of heat which gets trapped and causes the metal to expand, causing the spark plugs to weasel their way out over time. no mini rep will agree with this theory because that would mean they are agreeing to an inherent problem with the cars engineering. if this is the case, everyone who doesn't check the torque on their spark plugs every so often will probably be the victim of this, and because mini has not had enough complaints, they will blame whoever installed the plugs. If it was mini then youre ok, but if you have aftermarket plugs, you are out of luck. you will have to pay for it.
never the less, the point is i need your help. if you have had this happen to you, or have checked your spark plugs and had to torque them, or if you read this and go check and see that any of them are loose, please call and file a complaint with mini 1-866-ASK-MINI.
hopefully if enough of us complain we can help resolve the issue so that none of us have to pay to have this fixed. i know you take risks when you get performance parts, but i believe that randy torqued the plugs correctly the first time. the problem is with mini and it should end there.
please help!
thanks in advance!
-Amanda