5.0L Another broken plug NIGHTMARE..

[FORD SUV GUY]

So today I decided to change my oil, plugs and do a basic tune up. The first 6 spark plugs on my 2000 5.0L explorer came out w/o any issues. The 7th plug to be changed located in the no.1 cylinder NOT SO MUCH... It broke off flush, just leaving the steel jacket and threads in the cylinder. Tomorrow Im going to purchase the 3/8 extractor I need to remove whats left of the spark plug, (any opinion on which type wor best?)as I can NEVER find the tools I already own when I need them.. Swear theres a false bottom and trap door in my tool chest?? No big deal right? Well when I pulled out the socket w/the ceramic center of the plug and the 5/8 "nut" part of the plug were still in it. All but the very end of the electrod, THAT fell in my cylinder. Befor I could even think about getting in it and bumping the starter to blow the peices of ceramic out. So short story long am I going to have to pull my head now to remove these peices or do I have other options? Think compressed air could get the job done? With the valves for the cylinder closed of course. Any thoughts would be appreciated as this is/WAS my D.D.. Thanks.

F.S.G

 

[Turdle]

if you blow a very high pressure and a lot of CFM's, it's coming out. Try to find one of these--

Edit. You will want to slowly bump the starter until that cylinder is at TDC --compression. This will make sure the volume is decreased and the valves are closed. Only way out is thru the spark plug hole.

 

[FORD SUV GUY]

if you blow a very high pressure and a lot of CFM's, it's coming out. Try to find one of these--

Thanks for the quick reply turdle I appreciate it. I too suspected compressed air would get me out of this mess, but wanted a 2nd opinion to confirm my suspicions. You told me EXACTLY what I wanted to hear! A rarity in my life..

 

[FORD SUV GUY]

Thank God the trk is fixed! Despite working outside in full blizzard conditions courtesy of the nor-easter that blew thru Northern Vermont fri. & sat., dumping close to 2' of snow! For the next poor S.O.B that goes thru this nightmare heres how I choose to tackel my broken plug. I heated the jacket of the broken plug and the cylinder wall cherry n then sprayed it w/PBlaster. From there I inserted my #5 3/8" square fluted screw extractor(which fits perfectly in the female end of a 3/8" socket),gave it a couple light taps w/a 20oz. hammer to seat it and put the female end of a 3/8" drive 10mm hex head socket on the extractor. Leaving me w/a 10mm "stud" if you will to put my 18v impact wrench w/extension and a 10mm socket on. It work PERFECT! I gently started to impact the broken plug out (never going over half power w/my impactor) and after a couple blast it turned right out. I then used my shop vac w/a reducer kit made for car detailing to vacuum the broken peices of plug out of the cylinder. I used a micro wand attachment w/a roughly 8" peice of 3/8"i.d tubing on it to reach inside the cylinder thru the spark plug hole. I was easily able the vacuum out the tip of the electrod and small peices of ceramic that had fallen in. From there I blew it out w/compresed air just to be safe, installed the new plug a started it up. So far so good! Hope this helps someone in return for all the valuable help I've received on this forum...

 

[TimepoliceLtd]

5.0L Another broken plug NIGHTMARE

Hey guys, ive run into the exact same problem on i believe the exact same car/engine. Only difference is that i have relatively no experience with cars, only know the basics - suspension/oil change/brakes/some transmission work etc.

Basically i wanted to replace the spark plugs but apparently the previous owner never changed them, or so i looked. The car has ~150k miles on it and the bolts on the plugs were completely rusted and the first one i tried to remove nearly fell apart when i put the socket on.

So here i am, the spark plug casing is stuck in the chamber with only the thread. There is no porcelain as i managed to remove that in two big chunks, nothing fell into the cylinder - that i am sure of.

My question is how do i close the cylinder valve and ensure that when i attempt to remove the spark plug thread, nothing will fall into the cylinder and if it does it wont go anywhere? I have a very powerful air compressor at my disposal as well as just about any other tool you can think of. One of the posts above mentioned bumping the starter until compression is TDC, but i have no idea how to know when that happens, or really even how to do it.

Ive read that you can remove the exhaust and use a tool to close the valve or something manually, but again i dont have much experience doing this kind of work and the car is nearly all rusted out underneath so i will probably do more damage than good.

I really need some help here, thanks in advance for any replys

 

[shucker1]

As with any automotive 4 stroke engine I have worked on the valves are overhead of the piston, you are not going to stop anything from falling down in there.

A lot of very large industrial engines (Fairbanks Morse OP, Cooper Bessemer or Clark) don't use valves as these are "Ported Engines" and are 2 stroke design.

With that being said there are (2) Ways to find TDC.

A) Remove valve cover on the side you are working on and look for both rocker arms to be in the "up" position. This tells you that you are one compression stroke and the valves are closed. If they are not up then slowly rotate the engine by hand and watch for the valves to move, Look inside the plug hole with a good flashlight and you should be able to see the top of the piston as your slowly rotate the engine by hand. Once the piston starts to go down STOP. You have passed TDC.

B) Shortcut. Have a helper rotate the engine by hand while you hold your finger over the broken plug hole. Air pushing out against your finger tells you both valves are closed and your piston is on compression stroke. Watch through the plug hole for the piston to come up to TDC