Hi all,
I'd appreciate any insight into this issue.
I have a 2007 sport Honda fit with 60k miles on it. It was my grandpa's before, that's they the milage is so low. Exactly 1 year ago I had the famed spark plug blow out on #3. Last week and 10k miles later the same one blew out again! Reading though here I've only seen one other person have the same one blow out and it was 40k miles apart. Now I'm having to likely spend 3k getting the heading re machined.
Did my mechanic just install the recoil wrong?
Any suggestions are welcome. I'm at a loss and having to spend the rest of my savings so I can drive to work...
Thanks!

 

The wise/more cost effective choices would be to find a replacement head or engine since the helicoil/time-sert repair failed. You may be able to have a machine shop repair the head but you'll have to weight your options on whether it is cost effective based upon their labor in your area versus head/engine replacement.

Just make sure they adequately torque the replacement spark plugs to the updated spec of 17 to 20 ft lbs. The previous spec of 13 ft lbs is what allows the spark plugs to work themselves loose with time anyway.

 

I never had a blowout, but when changing my own spark plugs I was careful when torqueing them down. I think each plug has its own washer. While the washer is being compressed during tightening, the torque I applied by hand felt pretty constant. When this washer is bottomed out, the torque resistance bump up noticeably. I think I applied about 2-3 ft-lbs more after it's bottomed out. It peaked around maybe 17 ft-lbs. I was very wary of the possibility that too much torque could strip out the threads in the cylinder head. I think I used some blue threadlock too.

Sorry to hear that this can turn into an unexpected big repair bill to sort out.

 

Some will argue this but:
Clean the gasket seating surface inside of the spark plug well
Use NO anti-seize
Tighten the plug by hand, until washer is crushed ( 2/3 to 3/4 turn)
Do not reuse plug if removed.