Thread: Stripped out spark plug?

Just curious to see if anyone has any ideas to extracting this.... take a look for yourself

Normal view looking into spark plug hole


My view looking into spark plug hole


Normal spark plug


My spark plug


I have a feeling I am going to have to take the head off and bring it to a machine shop or something, but I was just curious to see if anyone had any idea or solutions to take it out without taking the head off....

Napa sells a kit to fix this. But the head has to come off. I heard of people putting the cylinder at TDC and then using a shop vac to suck out the shavings but I wouldn't do it. Gotta drill out the plug and put a new threaded sleeve in its place.

BTW same **** happened to my brothers mighty max few month back. We were doing head gasket anyway so taking the head off was no big deal.

I keep telling everyone - they dont sell copper antiseize for spark plugs for nothn'! tough shake man. hope you can get things figured out.

what type of spark plugs did this?

I'm betting they are NGK and that cylinder is running very hot. Any missfire codes or stuttering lately?

I might have to get new plugs and lather them up with anti sieze this week as I keep seeing this happen. I usually swap them out every few months but the car is for sale and not being driven that much so I haven't changed them.

Noooo, these were BRAND NEW NGK's

Never been used.... just took out the box. I put them in and got to the 3rd cylinder and started tightening, didnt tighten hard at all, and i felt no resistance so I pulled out the socket and saw

wow, that sucks. Defective plug I guess. Maybe NGK is going down the crapper because all the ones that I've seen brake are NGK.

hmm - given this being an issue, I think I'm going to take some scrap metal, drill a hole, and tap it to the same specs as the spark plugs I buy. that way, when I tighten the plug in the hole to spec, I know the epoxy holding the porcelain to the steel will hold, pull it out, then put it in the engine. It's worth a bit of work to ensure not having to take off the head!!!

oh - and antiseize!

Yeah, I think I am going to use anti-sneeze when I finally get it out. I'll be starting to pull the head off this afternoon. I'll keep you guys updated.

Lather....mmm...not the best.

Quick instructions to avoid this:

1) Get antiseize that uses copper. It will not slow the dissipation of heat between the head and the plug.
2) Apply a SMALL DAB - 'lathering' sounds too much. Apply a small dab, smear it around the TOP THREADS, never ever the bottom 2 rings that go into the combustion chamber.
3) Wipe off any excess (anything protruding from the threads) - even just the residue left behind will be enough antiseize for this app.
4) Clean out the threads you are putting the plug into. debris can get in there and gunk up the threads, especially if the old plugs are exactly that...old. Carbon deposits can get into the last few threads if the seal goes foul.
And most importantly,
5) Dont overtorque the plugs. All you're doing is creating a seal between the plug and the head, not holding anything in place. A seal is snug, not torqued man style.
...also if you have a low setting shop vac or air blower on your nearby compressor, suck out any gunk that may have gotten into the chamber from cleaning out the threads mentioned in step 4.