Anything special to know about changing plugs?

67Continental

67Continental

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Any tricks or tips? other than using dialectric grease in the boot - do I have to remove the plastic part of the intake?
 
You should also get a locking extension, i had trouble with the extension popping out of the spark plug socket because it was stuck on the spark plug.
 
dont over tighten the plugs. there are only 3-4 threads holding the plugs into the heads, and dont forget they are aluminum heads, so the threads in the head can strip easily.. it sucks to blow out a plug, trust me.
 
Grifter said:
dont over tighten the plugs. there are only 3-4 threads holding the plugs into the heads, and dont forget they are aluminum heads, so the threads in the head can strip easily.. it sucks to blow out a plug, trust me.
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Your right there.


I just ordered the thread repair kit from www.timesert.com I blew 4 plugs out of my 98 the other day. It seems the previous owner liked to crank down on the plugs a little too much.
 
i guess i am lucky then.. i only blew 1. but when it blew, it shattered the plug, dropped all the chunks down the plug hole, and took out the piston..
oh well, its all better now
 
when you are changing the plugs on the driverside of the motor, be very careful to not break the vacuum lines on the back of the motor, when removing the back two plugs...... not that i would know from exprieance or anything........ yeah
 
ok, so i had some problems:

One - The spark plug at the back, passenger side - it had oil on it. I looked into the socket and it looks like the threads were stripped / bent - not by me, as i found ALL of the plugs easy to turn and get out, there was no resistance. So what do I do now? Should I be worried? The new plug went in no problem.

Two - one of the plugs unscrewed fine, but i could NOT get it out of the hole! None of my sockets would pull it out. Finally, I just screwed it back in, and put the new wire on it until I could figure it out - how do i get it out???? Magnetic socket???

Three - while browsing for a solution to get my plug out, I came across all these sites telling me how terribly evil it was to change spark plugs with the engine even close to being warm, especially if one had aluminum heads as we do. Now, I started the job about an hour after running the car, and while the engine had a bit of warmth, it obviously was not burning hot or I would not have been able to do any work....The temp guage was way below C....Even so, I panicked, and decided to do the second bank of cylinders tomorrow morning. As I said before, all my plugs came out easy and I don't think any damage was done...how worried should I be?
 
I could be wrong but i think that oil gets on spark plugs if oil is being pushed past the rings. but i am no mechanic. but that was the scenerio on my mustang and when we pulled it and rebuilt it the rings in that cylinder were toasted. but that is from my experiance like i said i am no mechanic
 
the strange thing is, underneath the oil, the plug looked like all the others - no signs of any burning or anything.
 
67Continental said:
the strange thing is, underneath the oil, the plug looked like all the others - no signs of any burning or anything.
Click to expand...
Thats how a couple of mine were.
 
the oil leaking into the plug valley is just the spark plug tower seals leaking.. its just a little rubber gasket that seals between the cam cover and the head in the spark plug tower.. just messy..
 
Oil on the plug, as in, the porcelin insulator? Or is the oil on the electrode? If the area inside the cylinder head is clean, then you are ok. If the oily part is in the cam cover area, your still good. Cam cover seals are leaking a bit.
Cold engine plug swaps are the best, But think about this, when you take your car to a shop, do they wait until the heads are cold or cool/luke warm?
 
To get the plug out you can do several things. After it's loosened, plug the boot back on the plug and pull it out. I've heard of people using an appropriate sized vac hose pushed onto the plug as well. Personally I use a grabby tool for when I drop nuts and bolts and stuff in tight spots. Here's a pic:

gm-p112m.jpg
 
that DOES look like a handy device.

I got the plugs and wires on, runs well - thanks for all the help and tips everyone, let's hope that i tightened everything properly!
 
Just for future reference..... A small telescoping magnet will work also. Just unscrew the plug, and reach down with the magnet and pullit out.


Mike
 
i have a rough idle now - well, the idle is stable at around 600, but there is an occasional hole, that i can feel in the pedal. car runs and drives fine, no hesitation. thinking it might be time for some seafoam, but I am suspicious that my rough idle is actually more pronounced after the new plugs.

the plugs i took out of the car were gapped at .070!
 
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