i have a 88 dodge ram with a LA360 that the pistons keep hitting the spark plugs. this is not my first rodeo ive done basic trouble shooting to long of spark plugs ( not it ), bad timing chain ( not it ). i have come to believe the main bearings are no good and is causing a wobble and is allowing the pistons to hit the spark plug now they're only hitting till they meet resistance and not hard enough to push the plugs out. now i need others opinion on this before i tear the lower end apart for no good reason.

 

get even shorter plugs?

 

i have i have tried every plug that will fit in the LA 360 and all of them hit

 

how long has thi been goin on? did you buy the truck like this? if you did buy it like this were the headgaskets recently done? are the heads shaved? does it make any weird npises like bearings are bad?

 

i bought it like this for 300$ i have another motor just its 500 miles away in storage and doesnt start no clicking other then the piston hitting the spark plug when i bought it the guy said he took it in for a tune up and came back like that the head gasket was changed at rebuild, heads not shaved as far as i know i have a few days before i can pull the head as i was given a 96 200sx i need to fix also and its a easier fix ( starter and installing turbo )

 

maybe they milled the heads too much when they did the headgaskets?

 

ok so i pulled the heads found nothing but scaring on the piston a little more then i would like but no money to replace the pistons but not bad enough that it wont run so i put them back on same thing so i removed them again and there it was a small piece of metal some one dropped into the motor. thanks all for the help if i need more ill be back

 

ok so thought i got it all and put all back together and stared the truck ran a little rough so did a compression check on the cylinders and nuber 4 came back no compression so pulled it all back apart on the number 4 piston i noticed that the valve was sitting wierd so i compressed the valve and guess what it dropped a valve seat on number 4 my problem is i have never changed a valve seat can i just put a new one in or what needs to be done i know abot the heating and cooling but i read some say you have to have it milled and other say not its a 4$ part i would like to be able to just install it and go

 

cant help ya there man no idea about that stuff yet

 

thats fine i got it and yes the La360 are suppose to have a 3 angle cut done, my next question you may or may not be able to answer is the distributor has 4 wires on it what wires go to the coil so i can bypass the cpu as i have power to coil but nothing out and not sure why im leaning to a bad coild but ran when parked