Spark Plugs

My 08 Civic hybrid decided to do the above.

Got an intermittent misfire that would last roughly 30 seconds 5ish times on my trip home for christmas. Ending up stopping to fill up with gas thinking that it was a gas problem, and the misfires went away. Looking back its obvious that it was down on power, but its hard to tell (hybrid).

Drove the car for around town for the next 8 days with no issues (misfires). On my way out of town (made it maybe 3 miles), misfire, way worse than the first time. Limped it home. Did some troubleshooting, engine ate porcelain and compression is 50 psi in cylinder 4 (either bent valve or scored cylinder).

The spark plugs in the picture are from cylinders 3 and 4. The worse two are from the intake side.

My guess is that i lost the intake spark plugs and only the exhaust ones were firing. Due to the dual spark setup this would result in retarded timing and increased combustion temps, ultimately melting the plugs and causing them to fail.

Spark plugs had roughly 40k miles on them and were NGKs

While researching, i found a post on the eric the car guy forum where another civic hybrid owner had the same thing happen.

I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when i pulled the first plug.

Thoughts????

 

98 views and nobody has anything to say? Come on man.

 

Take it easy rookie... nobody here owes you ****. This isn't a conspiracy... it just means that the first 98 or so people who have looked at this thread either don't know much about cars either, might have a similar issue as you do and hoped to find some direction, or aren't sure enough about what they would suggest to post so as not to lead you in the wrong direction.

You know what you have to do (it is a pretty basic and logical diagnostic path)... and yet you want to be spoon fed.

OK, I'll bite.

Get a scope and look into the cylinder that has low compression. Chances are good that the pieces of porcelain that got eaten did damage to that hole. If you see a bent valve (this will likely be difficult) or cylinder wall scoring, you have to repair the engine. If nothing obvious is visible, put the offending cylinder at TDC (same position as if you were doing a valve adjustment on that cylinder), apply compressed air to the plug hole and listen to where the air comes out: Throttle body or Exhaust = valve problems; out of the dipstick or oil cap = cylinder wall/piston/ring issues. Once you know which, you know the direction. Valve issues mean you will have to pull the head and repair it. Piston/Cylinder Wall issues mean the entire engine comes out and must either be rebuilt or replaced.

Lastly, find some patience and a healthy dose of humility. Right now you are a taker... you have given nothing to help others on this site... just demanded immediate answers to your problem. Nobody gets paid to assist you here... we do it out of kindness and compassion for our fellow automotive enthusiasts.

 

READ MY POST... I am asking if anyone has any idea of what happened, not what to do about it.