Spark plug snapped off in engine!!

[.A.N.T. 0]

Any thoughts on this?

 

Car has been running pretty rich recently, so just pulled the plugs out to check the colour of them. 2, 3, 4 cylinder were all fine, but no 1 was really really stiff to get out. Eventually it came out, well some of it came out. Check out the photo and you can see that half the plug is now left in the engine...

 

Any thoughts on how to get it out?

 

 

This is getting near the last straw with the car now. It's been scratched down the side, has over 210,000 miles on the clock, is on it's second engine already and so has no resale value.

 

Do I just take this as the end and break it for parts, or do I strip the engine down, see what damage has been done and rebuild it for another years motoring?

 

I'm after a new car anyway, is this the death knell for mine?!

 

 

But first, any thoughts on how to get the rest of the plug out?

[Slimg60 0]

Is it still in the threads or has it dropped into the cylinder?

If it's still in the threads, perhaps an easy out would work?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

getting an easy out to work wont be easy and the fact its snapped from the plug means its in there f-tight! there is only one outcome of this and its the head off im afraid.. :(

[.A.N.T. 0]

I thought as much...

 

So, the question is, new car or not... I've been thinking about replacing it for a couple of years now, maybe this is the catalyst..?

[beastie4126 0]

This happened on my fathers Mondeo and we managed to get the remainder of the plug out with a bit wd40 and an fat easy out. Perhaps more luck than judgement but you are not going to lose any thing by taking a chance.

[waynos 0]

i had the same thing happen on my old mk1 golf, except it happened whilst driving! heard a loud bang then the car sounded like a tractor. pooped the bonnet to find half a spark plug attached to a lead and the rest in the engine. Used a stud extractor to get it out

[.A.N.T. 0]

I'll look into getting an extractor down there. Nothing really to lose in trying...

 

If I can't get it out, then we'll go from there...

[aki 0]

hi happens on a pretty regular basis to ford fiestas kas escorts etc with the duratec (crossflow to our older readers!) using tapered plugs try an easyout but for gods sake dont break it off as then your in a world of trouble my favoured approach is to whack a torx bit into it so that it cuts into the remaining metal then just turn it out! oh and 1/2 inch drive helps!along with lots of worth rost off which is similar to wd40 but unbeliveably better! again youve nothing to loose it has to come out somehow!even if you take the head off its still got to come out!

andy

[.A.N.T. 0]

but for gods sake dont break it off as then your in a world of trouble

 

 

Oops. :mad2:

 

 

Poxy easy out has rounded off whilst in the engine and the socket now wont grip it to go in or out...

 

 

world of trouble, here I am...

 

 

 

I'm guessing that to try and get it out now it's an entire head out job. Once it's done though, I'll then have to find the reason it's snapped. The plugs arent that old, so there's something up with it, maybe cylinder 1 is running too hot? Its been drinking petrol for the last month or two and running very rich, so there's def something up with it.

I have the use of my mums car for the next couple of months as she's away travelling, so there's not a massive urgency.

 

MIght just break it. I'd get more doing that then I would selling it, even with a working engine...

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

[Sonicriot13 0]

Don't break it dude! It's a 16v right? Easy to get the head off one of those. :D

[Andy T 0]

A similar thing happened to me, all of the threaded part was left in the head, luckily my VW specialist sorted it without taking the head off.

They drilled out the remaining piece, re-drilled & re-tapped a larger hole & installed a helicoil, and had a special vac to remove all the drillings from the cylinder bore. They did a superb job and I did several spark plug changes afterwards without any problems.

 

I'd have a chat with some decent garages in your area to see if they have the same equipment to help you out.

[Jim 2]

Don't break it :( So many getting broken for parts these days :(

 

I've had all the intake manifold off on mine and there wasn't much more work from there to remove the head.. I reckon get the head off, find a good replacement (£50 if your lucky) get a headgasket and belt set and get it all put back together.. shouldn't cost you any more than £150 all in!

[millerman 0]

sham its a valver as i have a heli coil kit for a vr6 lump as mine blew a spark plug out the block only a few months of owning the car

but that was back in 2001 when i happened

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

sham its a valver as i have a heli coil kit for a vr6 lump as mine blew a spark plug out the block only a few months of owning the car

but that was back in 2001 when i happened

 

 

same plug thread size.

[V-Dubstar 0]

sham its a valver as i have a heli coil kit for a vr6 lump as mine blew a spark plug out the block only a few months of owning the car

but that was back in 2001 when i happened

 

 

same plug thread size.

 

Out of curiosity, what thread do the plugs have? It wouldnt be a standard metric thread would it?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

im sure its M14X1.25

[mimjed 0]

im sure its M14X1.25

 

yeah thats the standard size.

 

how much of easy out is sticking out? enough to weld a nut on?? i recently had to do this on a manifold stud after it snapped, was a piece of cake to do this way.

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

been a valver that will be deep down in the head,so you cant weld :(

[mimjed 0]

depends how it sits really, pic would help a hell of a lot. only need a couple of spots to hold the nut