Guess I got lucky with my Club Car

[bcsman]

I was out riding after dinner with my 1993 Club Car DS and heard a very loud pop and it died. I called my son to tow me home, only 1/2 mile away. It was almost dark so I pushed it into my garage, figured I would take a look in the morning. Well pulled the seat and saw a hole in the top of the engine where the spark plug wire attaches. The plug and wire were lying on the side of the engine, so I figured this engine was done. When I looked at the plug all the threads looked good so I thought the threads on the engine would be stripped. But when I tried to screw it back in I found it seemed to be threading. I backed the plug out and figured I would turn the engine over to blow anything out if there was anything, then gapped the plug as it looked good and reinstalled and tightened. Put it in service mode, pushed the pedal and fired right up! I have taken on a few short rides to check out but everything seems fine.

I do have a question, it seems the plug must have slowly backed out and popped out when almost loose. Is it normal on this engine to have the plug loosen, pretty sure I tightened when I installed it? Lesson learned tho, I will keep an eye on it now....

[Fairtax4me]

Not really normal. I've only seen spark plugs get loose when they were not tightened properly.
Torque spec on the spark plug is about 18ft lbs if I remember right, which is not mega tight, but it's tight enough to flatten the crush washer and get a proper seal. The crush washer usually needs about 3/4 of a turn to fully seat, and then you'll feel more resistance when the washer bottoms against the head. With a standard ratchet or plug wrench you should feel like you're making it kinda tight.