My car did something strange, Mechanics look here :)

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

I took off from a friends house and the car was ticking a little bit and the check engine light came on. Went back to my house (10 minutes drive or so) and get in the drive way...shut the car off and opened the hood. The center spark plug wire was popped out. I pulled it and it had a slight amount of dark oil on the top of the ring. I cleaned it off and plugged it back in (I also removed the other 2 that I can get to and checked those (they too had light amounts of oil on them). After plugging the spark plug back in the engine is running fine, but the check engine light is still on.

Does this mean something else happened? Or did the wire just actually get lose? It is HOT here today (90+).

2002 Dodge Stratus R/T

Thanks!

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[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

unhook your battery negative cable wait about 5 minutes rehook it back up...it shoud reset the check engine light on that vehicle //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

unhook your battery negative cable wait about 5 minutes rehook it back up...it shoud reset the check engine light on that vehicle //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Thanks! I'll run out and do that now. I appreciate this info!

So having a bit of oil at the top of the spark plug wire is normal (edit: not normal, but doesn't mean something horrible has happened rather)? I was a bit worried about that.

 

[Pimpedout97]

Thanks! I'll run out and do that now. I appreciate this info!
So having a bit of oil at the top of the spark plug wire is normal (edit: not normal, but doesn't mean something horrible has happened rather)? I was a bit worried about that.

Your piston rings could be bad. Does the car smoke?

 

[regal8r 5,000+ posts]

Your piston rings could be bad. Does the car smoke?

its a dodge, of course it smokes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

LOL on the dodge part. No smoke at all actually.

 

[Goindef154 5,000+ posts]

Should be fine.

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

what is happening is the seals in the valve cover where the spark plug tubes go are leaking getting oil down the spark plug hole making the spark jump to the tube. You car has the 3.0 v6 right? the back 3 plugs are covered by the intake manifold. You need to pull the upper intake plenum off and replace the valve cover gaskets and the orings. the check engine light is on due to a "random misfire detected"

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

what is happening is the seals in the valve cover where the spark plug tubes go are leaking getting oil down the spark plug hole making the spark jump to the tube. You car has the 3.0 v6 right? the back 3 plugs are covered by the intake manifold. You need to pull the upper intake plenum off and replace the valve cover gaskets and the orings. the check engine light is on due to a "random misfire detected"

Yeah *cringe* I have taken the plenum off before. I did actually plug it back in and then unplugged the battery and the check engine light is off and it seems to be running fine. I did have to keep the RPMS up for about 25 minutes just to get the battery recharged.

It is a bit beyond me to take everything off and replace that though, I will most likely take it to the shop.

Thanks for the info though!

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

yea on a chrylser product, well the newer ones anytime you disconnect the battery and reconnect it and clear the ecm it has to relearn again which can take some time. the reason it popped the plug wire off is since there is a leak there the pressure from the crankcase has now found a new place to relieve some pressure and since the seal is leaking thats where the pressure decided to go. its nothing major. If you were closer id fix it on the cheap. Its like a 30 minute job honestly!

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

yea on a chrylser product, well the newer ones anytime you disconnect the battery and reconnect it and clear the ecm it has to relearn again which can take some time. the reason it popped the plug wire off is since there is a leak there the pressure from the crankcase has now found a new place to relieve some pressure and since the seal is leaking thats where the pressure decided to go. its nothing major. If you were closer id fix it on the cheap. Its like a 30 minute job honestly!

That depresses me that your far away. I"m going to take it long hard and dry from the shop, I know it.

I'll get it looked at. Do you think this is something that is going to get worse and should be fixed quickly or can I drag it out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

you can let it slide for a bit. its eventually just gonna get worse though. plus you will end up with oil everywhere. Also make sure that you change the PCV valve at the same time. A bad PCV wont ventilate the crankcase properly and cause excess pressure and blow out seals.

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

you can let it slide for a bit. its eventually just gonna get worse though. plus you will end up with oil everywhere.

I'll have it looked at tomorrow then.

 

[bryce-man 10+ year member]

haha my truck just did this 2 days ago

pulled off to the side just to see if it was something stupid and turned out it was lol

got home .. reset the system and no more check engine light

edit: but it didnt pop off cause of the same reason

.. i went urban offroading hehe //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif