Hey guys I am new here and if this is in the wrong place I apologize. Just curious about something that’s been going on with my 06 cobalt lsj. Here’s some back ground. A few months ago the spark plug in the #2 cylinder was pushed out of the engine and into the ignition coil. I was on the highway so I couldn’t really stop and fix it then. When I got to where I was going I fixed the problem reset the cel and everything seemed fine. I also changed my oil and bought a new ignition coil. The spark plug had a helicoil on it so I bought a new one and torqued everything down to spec. A few weeks ago my car was running a little sluggish and I got another CEL, so I decided to do a tune up on it. New air filter for my CIA and new spark plugs and I had the cel reset, also when I changed the spark plugs the #2 plug had a bunch of oil on it. I was told by my mechanic that this could have been caused because the pressure was too high in the engine since the exhaust gases weren’t leaving like they should because the cat was plugged up. (There were several historic codes, I assume from the spark plug incident) The cel came back on and this time it was a lean condition and catalytic converter code. I changed my cat and reset the cel again. Last week the cel came back on for about a day then turned off. It stayed off for a few days then came back on. I got the code read again and it came up a lean condition. I assume front O2 sensor. I bought some seafoam and ran that through my car and the cel turned off. It came back on two days ago and turn off again yesterday. When the cel comes on the car will slightly hesitate under hard acceleration and when the cel is off it will accelerate normally. I have a few mods done to the car and no tune for the mods. Mods are Corsa exhaust, CIA, header. I guess this could just be the O2 sensor being dirty but I wanted to see if you guys might have a different idea. Thanks for any input.

 

Need the actual codes PXXXX.
Lean is probably from the CAI and not the o2.

 

It was something like P01XX (I know that's not really helpful). I'll see if I can get it pulled again and let you know.

 

P0171 is the lean condition. Related to the CAI.

 

if your oiling down a plug you have worse things to worry about

 

Got the code read lastnight and it came up as a P01272. What could cause the plug to get oil on it?

 

I have had a compression test done and it checked out fine so it shouldn't be a piston ring. Maybe a valve seal leak or something?

 

and engine can pass a compression test but fail a leak down test. more then likely you have a ring landing broken

 

I could understand a broken ring landing. I never looked inside the engine on these cars but could I have just spun a ring and do these cars have a compression ring, oil scrapper ring, and 3 rings below that, that look like a slinky? Sorry, I don't know the techinical names of some of these things just pratical experience working on cars. I know the best way to figure out if that happened is to pull the engine and look for myself, and if I have to do that it would rather just buy a new engine build it up and put that in it. I bought the car without knowning how it had been driven or how well it was or wasn't taken car of. Thanks for all of the advice. I didn't think of the ring landing until you said something.

 

I called a Chevy dealer and they told me that they are having a lot of problems with the Cylinder Heads for the Ecotec egnines. The guy told me they are expensive and I could find one somewhere else cheaper, so I don't think they were just trying to get me in and get my money. Seems to me that there are more then a few people with issues getting oil on their spark plugs. Just FYI I thought I would pass along.

 

I just got a quote back from my mechanic who would charge $933 to change the valve stem seals + tax + fluids. Since I don't want to spend a grand to have someone else do the work I guess I am in for an awesome weekend. I am going to do this and if it turns out to be a piston ring then my next step would be set the car on fire and let the insurance company sort out the pieces......lol. wish me luck.

 

they arent having problems with the lsj heads as they are sand cast i dont know if the lnf head is sand cast or not all other eco heads are lost foam cast

 

on a piston top to bottom you hace 3 rings total

top ring is a copmression ring

second ring is a compression/secondary oil scraper

the third ring is a 3pc ring which is your main oil control ring it

 

I checked out the link in another thread about the piston rings. It was an interesting read. We'll see how the work goes and with the cylinder head off I can check the walls for anything suspicious. Thanks for the info on the rings man.

 

Figured out why I was dumping oil on top of my spark plug. $35.00 fix. Now on the to the other cylinder where I am getting oil on the bottom of the spark plug.