There are a number of variables, such as the size of the piece, its shape, the compression ratio of the cylinder, the number of valves, the size of the valves, the shape of the cylinder, and what everything is made of. You are much better off removing anything that falls into the cylinder than risk expen$ive damage. -- Mike -------------- Original message from Peter Lucas <lucas@xxxxxxxx>: -------------- > While we are on this topic, what are people's opinions about the > danger of ceramic material from a broken spark plug falling into the > cylinder? I once took great pains to vacuum out a bit of this stuff. > Did I save my engine, or would it have instantly been pulverized to > atoms with no ill effect? > > I figured, better safe than sorry, but OTOH I imagine that spark > plugs fail in this way all the time in running engines. Anybody know? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/