I just had an unusual problem flying today. During flight I lost throttle repsonse. I returned the throttle to idle and then the engine let out a big back fire, and then died. Upon inspecting the engine I found that the little screw on cap at the end of the spark plug had unscrewed itself allmost all the way off. I put loctite on the threads and screwed the cap back on. Placed the spark plug back into the engine. When I start the engine it wants to run backwards. I immediately quit trying to start it since hand starting a 22 inch prop that wants to run backwards is not my idea of a good time.

I have sent an email to BME, but I would hate to have to wait until monday for a response.

My assumption is that the back fire has caused a loss of timing or it has damaged the ignition module? Any ideas?