Plug is too small for socket????
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 351
Likes: 0
From: Grapevine, Tx
Plug is too small for socket????
I literally had a spark plug blow out of its socket. I've tried several plugs and the socket is just too big. I removed and replaced the plugs next to it and they seat fine. Could the block be cracked at this one place? Its the drivers side 3rd plug from the front. I can push the entire plug in past the threads. Any thoughts or clues?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 6,486
Likes: 1,658
From: Las Vegas NV
Re: Plug is too small for socket???? (rdonato)
Sounds like someone got too stoked when tightening the plug, and stripped the threads. Or maybe the spark plug seized in the hole, and when the plug was removed, took the head threads with it. A few more plugs get installed, "tightened" and blown out, and pretty soon that spark plug hole is as big as the Lincoln Tunnel.
Spark plugs threads are steel; Cylinder head is aluminum -- guess which one loses when excessive force is used on the plug???
Sounds like your cyl head is a candidate for a heli-coil insert repair. If you don't know what this is, a good mechanic will. Yours isn't the first aluminum head to have a spark plug hole stripped out.
Good luck, and let's be careful out there with those spark plugs! (And don't forget the anti-seize...the head you save may be your own!)
Kent
[Modified by Kent1999, 11:42 PM 9/21/2002]
Spark plugs threads are steel; Cylinder head is aluminum -- guess which one loses when excessive force is used on the plug???
Sounds like your cyl head is a candidate for a heli-coil insert repair. If you don't know what this is, a good mechanic will. Yours isn't the first aluminum head to have a spark plug hole stripped out.
Good luck, and let's be careful out there with those spark plugs! (And don't forget the anti-seize...the head you save may be your own!)
Kent
[Modified by Kent1999, 11:42 PM 9/21/2002]
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 6,486
Likes: 1,658
From: Las Vegas NV
Re: Plug is too small for socket???? (rdonato)
Local shop says $500 + gasket and fluids to put in a heli-coil...that fair?
I'd still get another estimate from another dealer if possible, but I would guess you will be looking at a *minimum* of $300 or so, no matter who does it.
Cheers,
Kent
