Broken spark plug
 

Well i decided to take a look at my spark plugs to see if that was the cause of my bad gas mileage.

I tried loosening them with a ratchet but they wouldnt budge. I put previous ones in and i dont remember tightening them this tight. So then i took my breaker bar and attached it to the extension which attached to the spark plug attachment. And i got it loose. BUT when i got it loose, i heard a pop sound.
Then i took the spark plug out and it looked like this



Problem found right?

It gets worse.

I go to the next one and again i hear the same pop when it breaks loose.
It looks the same as the first one.

Heres where it gets worse.
I go to loosen the third one and yup... you guessed it... it snapped in half!


So now im thinking things couldnt be worse, but of course they CAN!

I try to loosen the last one and the breaker bar starts to move, but slowly. And im turning it completely around, but with force. So im guessing that the spark plug is stripped!
So i go over to my tool box to grab my flash light and i hear this dripping sound. I check under the car and dont see anything, then i look at the last spark plug and i see it filling with... gasoline? (orange in color)
So i grabbed my vacuum cleaner (one that is complete garbage) and i sucked up most of the liquid.




Now!
Wtf happened? and
How do I fix it?


Thanks

Orange might be Dex-Cool coolant...

• Fuel is clear (for the most part)
• Trans is red, reddish-brown
• Coolant is typically orange or green/yellow
• Oil is clear to brown usually

I hate when that happens. The only thing close to that I have had happen, it broke off above the threads and I used a regular ratchet socket to remove the rest.

Got any experience with removing a broken spark plug?

And so if its coolant, howd it get there?

It wasnt there when i first looked, but once i started untwisting it, it started to fill

Take off the head.

Use anti-seize next time.

No idea. Get some of the liquid out and look at it. Use a dropper or something. It's probably oil, maybe leaking between valve cover and head. Who knows. Doesn't make sense.

do they have a how to on taking off the head?

Im not going to be doing this alone, my friend whos a car guy will help, but what do you mean take off the "head". are you talking about the block?

The HEAD sits on top of the BLOCK.

You are going to need new head bolts and a new head gasket. Drain all the fluids and change the oil when you are done.

Maybe I should have put anti-sieze on my plug threads :eek: I want to pull them and be sure they are gapped right anyway :awesome:

yup it makes them go in like butter, and come out without hassle. love it.

any idea how much it would cost a mech to do this??

i really wish i was dreaming right now :(

way more than you want.

at least $4-500

welll!!!!!! looks like i wont have to be spending 4-$500 just yet!

i fished it out using super glue, a piece of a clay bar, and a screwdriver



Now i just have to take out the last spark plug and try and figure out why fluid came up

sweet. for some reason i thought the threaded portion was stuck in the head still, leaving you with no way to exert unscrewing torque on it

funny you mentioned that, I have no idea what happened to the threaded part.

usually they come new like this



but then all those threads disappear.....

When the spark plugs broke that left the threads in the head, have to take the head off. I'd take it to a shop and have them remove them.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!:hanged: :hanged: :hanged: :hanged: :hanged:

That happened to all of them then!!!

yes its probably oil. did you put on a new gasket when you painted the valve cover?

yeah i always put anti seize on them too. works like a charm.

and dang spc, thats just a terrible day right there....

I thought its bad tO use anti seize because it can multiply the torque or whatever and can also mess with conductivity?

Oh well I don't think I'll need to change my spark plugs again anyways :p

i dont know why but i just dont think that the threads fell in there...
but if they did, and I started it up, could I hear them knocking around in there?

I think you're toast, dude.
Start looking for a new cylinder head - honestly, even if you could get the remainder of the plugs out of the head, you'll probably mess up the threads and you'll need a new head anyway.
Sucks for sure.