Stuck Plug

[ajr2000]

So my mom comes home and the CEL is on. NOTE- this is for a 2000 OHV, not my 93. I decided to reset the computer to clear the CEL. It went away, and then I drove it around, still didn't come back on. It has needed a tune-up, so I went to autozone and got some stuff for that. On the way back home, the CEL came back on so I went back to autozone and had them pull the codes. It was a P0304 - Cyl 4 misfire.

So I go back home, try to take the plug off, and it won't budge. The hex is starting to strip. I squirted some 3-in-1 oil on it, no luck with that. Going to try and get some of that penetrating oil tomorrow. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[Heavymentill]

If you break it off, you still have the option of an easy out. I got mine out with a EX-5. If your not willing to take that chance, call around to some shops they usually don't charge too much.

 

[badmonkey]

Hey, this works great on broken or frozen bolts but I have never tried this on a plug.
Take your socket and Freeze this heck out of it get it as cold as you can, for a broken or frozen bolt I heat the area around it but for a plug you might want to try just running the motor getting it good and hot.

When its good and hot take the frozen tool and quickly put it on the plug, what should happen is the heat from the plug will transfer into the socket making it contract while the hot area around the plug will stay expanded. and the plug shud back out

Like I said works great on frozen bolts....never tried on plugs

Good luck

 

[Nevr2loe]

could be crossthreaded also, so you might want to take it easy, or like what was said before, shops wont charge much for it, so you might take that route also

 

[Dopler174]

I would take it to a shop before you strip it out...Let them mess it up. That way they will have to fix it. Either that, or I would try to find the sockets like they use too get wheel locks off. The more you turn to loosen it, the more the socket tightens. Kind of like an easy out, only on the outside instead of drilling a hole for an easy out. I've never had to put plugs in A 2000 Expo, So I don't really know how hard it would be.

 

[Billy177]

if you are using the correct 6 point spark plug socket it should not strip out

 

[Heavymentill]

I've never had a problem stripping any plugs the thing just snapped off below the hex area.

 

[Stevo92z28]

Ditto, i just did the plugs on my '93 last night and i broke off the tops of 2 of them but no damage to the actual plug itself. I just made sure the spark plug socket was completely on.

 

[JIGAWHAAT]

I broke off 6 of my 8 plugs below the hex a couple of weeks ago. What I ended up doing was turn the truck over real quick. This will shoot the rest of the ceramic out. Then I used an ez-out with alot of heat. It was a pain but worked fine. Im no mechanic but this worked well on all 6 plugs.