Cylinder 2 Misfire

[aaricchavez]

Hello all! Unfortunately my first time posting something is going to be about an issue.

Tl;dr at bottom

I'll start from the beginning to give some context to the situation. I have a 2015 GT PP. At the beginning of December I ordered a Procharger kit from @beefcake (Highly reccomend!) I don't have much extended time to work on the car as it is a daily driver, but my kit arrived just before a free weekend. I received everything but the BAP and injectors, but figured they were only a day or two off and I only work two miles from home. I got and put in the injectors two days later. The BAP did not end up getting delivered for about a month. I finished my tune with Shaun at AED after that. I had zero issues during this time. Soon after I picked up some SW catless headers from another member and I also got a killer deal on an 18 manifold.

Come this past week and two weekends I put the car on stands and started a bunch of work on it after work. OPG, CS, balancer, clutch, flywheel, headers and 18 manifold with lockouts along with a bunch of Steeda parts. Since I was doing so much work I started it after each thing to test. After the clutch and headers I took the car for a 30 minute easy drive and everything ran ok. After that I put in the 18 manifold and flashed the base tune from AED for the changes. I ran the car for a few minutes and went to bed. Come this morning I start it up and it feels really boggy and throws a Cylinder 2 Misfire(P0302) I thought it was weird so I left the car parked. After work I figured I'd pull the spark plug from cylinder 2 and take a look at it. It had a huge hard, almost metal-like, build up on it. I broke off the buildup and put it back in temporarily thinking I could get to Advanced and pick up a temporary set until I could order the Brisk plugs again. Still misfired. I remembered I still had the stock plugs and threw those in. Still misfiring on cylinder 2. After that I put the Brisk plugs back in, but I swapped the cylinder 1 and 2 plugs and coils. Same thing, cylinder 2 misfire.

Tl;dr Cylinder 2 misfiring. Hard metal-like build up on spark plug. Broke buildup off and swapped cylinder 1 and 2 plugs and coils. Still misfires.

I've added a pic of the spark plug.

What could Ihave caused this? I can't even find pictures of other plugs with this buildup. I imagine driving without the BAP for a month didn't help(I know it's not recommended, but I didn't realize it would take a month to get delivered!)

What should/can I do next? I appreciate any help!

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[Jetnoise]

Wow
Oil getting to it?

 

[aaricchavez]

Wow
Oil getting to it?

It didn't look wet when I took it out, but I did go for a short period without a catch can. I believe about two weeks as I was shopping the Christmas sales to purchase a bunch things. I've had the UPR catch can installed since then, though. Everything else is bone dry as far as I can tell. Could oil cause that bad buildup? I've seen pictures of oil-fouled plugs, but none this bad. And the buildup doesn't look as hard as this was. It was like a rock.

I had/have Brisk plugs and couldn't find them or the NGKs close to me, but an Autozone further away has the NGKs, so i'm planning on picking up a new set of plugs sometime tomorrow and putting them in after work. It just concerns me that switching plugs from other cylinders doesn't switch the misfire.

 

[Jetnoise]

I'm far from an expert but It's foreign matter...air & fuel usually all you'd find in there. If oil under boost can cause that ....the plug itself looks to actually be intact.
If it's the only plug looking that way try swapping a coil &Or a leak down test?
Ive never played with a FI like you have maybe retrace all your plumbing?
Cheap diagnosi$ steps vs throwing any parts at it. You changed a number of things
In short order.... Intake gasket or vacuum leak....does have an odor? Or break apart easily?
Whish I had the magic bullet for you.

 

[aaricchavez]

I'm far from an expert but It's foreign matter...air & fuel usually all you'd find in there. If oil under boost can cause that ....the plug itself looks to actually be intact.
If it's the only plug looking that way try swapping a coil &Or a leak down test?
Ive never played with a FI like you have maybe retrace all your plumbing?
Cheap diagnosi$ steps vs throwing any parts at it. You changed a number of things
In short order.... Intake gasket or vacuum leak....does have an odor? Or break apart easily?
Whish I had the magic bullet for you.

Right? I was surprised to find it like that. Only plug like that. I tried swapping coils to no avail. I did not think of smelling it at the time and I couldn't break it off with my fingers. I used some flush cutters I had with me to break it off.

I did think maybe vacuum leak, so I checked all my hoses and routing on the 18 manifold and all appeared to be good. Tomorrow i'll pull off the manifold and check the gaskets, they're brand new, but maybe that one didn't get seated properly

 

[GT Pony]

If you swapped plugs and coils then it must not be an ignition problem unless it's between the coil and ECU. Might want to try and check for spark output on that cylinder.

Might also want to check the compression on that cylinder and compare to a couple other cylinders.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Looks like severe carbon build up.

Are the plugs gapped correctly for your engine/performance application considering you have a Procharger?

Take a look at the picture of the last plug on the left side of this image - although not as severe as yours, your picture does show such build up but on a much larger scale:

Have you reached out to Procharger to see what their thoughts are about the findings?

Do you have any way of looking into the cylinder or maybe a local shop that would be willing to take a look?

 

[17LightningGT]

Compression test and scope the cylinder if you can get a camera or know someone that does.

 

[aaricchavez]

Looks like severe carbon build up.

Are the plugs gapped correctly for your engine/performance application considering you have a Procharger?

Have you reached out to Procharger to see what their thoughts are about the findings?

Do you have any way of looking into the cylinder or maybe a local shop that would be willing to take a look?

I gapped them at .035 based on Procharger's recommendation. I haven't reached out to them at all yet since I didn't get a chance to swap plugs or coils until last night.

Compression test and scope the cylinder if you can get a camera or know someone that does.

Last night I overnighted a compression and leakdown tester. I missed the cutoff time, so I won't get them until tomorrow. I can get my hands on a scope. I'll get some testing done and report back.

Thanks for the guidance, everyone!

 

[aaricchavez]

Compression test turned out well. Got between 205-210 on every cylinder. Warming up the engine for the test I popped in a new plug in place of the fouled one and there were actually no misfires. After the compression test I put in all the new plugs I bought today. I didn't want to push my luck, so I only took the car for a short drive and no misfires or other issues that I noticed. I'm leaving the car parked until tomorrow when I get my hands on the scope to be sure nothing is in the cylinder.

 

[aaricchavez]

Alright got the scope down the cylinder. There's nothing else in there and I didn't see any scratches on the walls at all. It looks like there's a mark on top of the piston head, but that's all I see.

 

[GT Pony]

Alright got the scope down the cylinder. There's nothing else in there and I didn't see any scratches on the walls at all. It looks like there's a mark on top of the piston head, but that's all I see.

How do other piston tops look? Maybe that cylinder is burning way more oil than the others and that's why the plug fouled out.

 

[choate]

looks like a severe lean condition to me where you melted the plug. i'm not expert but i'd say you ran out of fuel if you were in boost, went lean and nearly burnt up a piston.

 

[Jetnoise]

How many miles on your injectors?

 

[aaricchavez]

How do other piston tops look? Maybe that cylinder is burning way more oil than the others and that's why the plug fouled out.

I didn't take pics or look at the others for long, but they didn't look as scorched.

looks like a severe lean condition to me where you melted the plug. i'm not expert but i'd say you ran out of fuel if you were in boost, went lean and nearly burnt up a piston.

The plug was actually intact after breaking whatever it was off. Shaun at AED thinks it was probably some plastic or rubber that got in when I replaced the manifold. I taped up the holes as soon as I pulled the old one off and only pulled the tape right before I placed the new one down. So I would have no idea what it was that fell in if that's what happened.
I was probably running lean during the time between putting the kit in, waiting for the BAP and finishing the tune, but the misfire only happened after I replaced the manifold and headers.

How many miles on your injectors?

Less than 1000.

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