spark plug cross threaded and stuck in the cylinder head

[Oscar88]

what's going to be the best solution? i've dealt with timeserts and helicoils before after blowouts, but i've never witnessed a cross threaded plug that's stuck solid in the spark plug hole!

thanks in advance guys

 

[MarcB]

Call SWR mate as they done mine and have done a few before.

They are based in Striling.

http://www.swrautos.co.uk/contactus

 

[Oscar88]

cheers marc, the funny thing is i'm a renault trained mechanic i've just never faced a situation like this before. my thoughts were to just get the plug by sheer force, and then attempt to deal with the aftermath but i really need the experts advice. i know that there are lots of guys on here who are way more knowledgeable than i am when it comes to this sort of thing

 

[craigy2703]

I've been a mechanic for 6 years and only seen a cross threaded plug once ended up using the gun on it and it came out than helicoiled it turn it over with the plug out gets any debris if left out then pray

 

[Mr R.]

I ALWAYS start plugs off by hand, they have a fine thread.

Bottom line is the plug needs to come out.

 

[Dan@SJM]

Aye, gun it out. You've nothing to loose, as it stands the head has to come off, so if you get away without doing that then you've won.

 

[craigy2703]

Aye, gun it out. You've nothing to loose, as it stands the head has to come off, so if you get away without doing that then you've won.

Excatly s**t or bust I think is what you gotta do always start plugs by hand I honestly don't know how you can cross thread them if it goes tight stop undo don't keep doing it up

 

[Oscar88]

wasn't me who done it, one of the apprentices done it but everything's sorted now. managed to get it out, tapped a new thread out with the cylinder halfway up on the compression stroke and then inserted the timesert and blew out all of the swarf > compression tested and i'm happy with the results. nervy times though, certainly a job i don't want to have to do again!

 

[craigy2703]

Horrible the moment you relise it's cross threaded glad you sorted it when I was an apprentice I sheared off a temp sensor in a brand new 2.5k ranger cylinder head nightmare luckly it came straight out

 

[Stu172cup]

i hope he got a kicking ??

 

[Oscar88]

i hope he got a kicking ??

he paid for my overtime yesterday out of his wages to correct it, that will certainly be the first and last time i let anyone work on my car. i'd have been a bit more forgiving if he had made a genuine mistake (even the best of us have made major **** ups) but the fact that he tried to hide it. i checked his work, only to find out that one of the spark plugs wouldn't slacken or tighten and i called him over and he tried to deny it. that's him not getting any favours from me in the future that's for bloody sure!

 

[Stu172cup]

Oh Yeah mate - But to try and cover it up is a no no

he must have felt it tighten as he was going in with it - Lesson learnt