I am wondering about those metal casing in the spark plug holes where you put the plugs in and tighten them are those really necessary? It seems like it would be much easier to change plugs with out them, cause that is what makes it difficult for me to get to them hard to reach plugs.

 

For me, the only difficult plug to reach is cylinder 5, because it points towards part of your AC system, i think its the evaporator? That black cylinder looking thing... Anyways, just remove your air box (2 10mm bolts?) and it makes the passenger side Alot easier. And the other slightly difficult plug is cylinder 3, due to the brake booster. But once your figure out where to swing your socking around/under it, its easy to get to.

 

I'm not sure if you're talking about a V-6 or V-8. On my 3.9L, cylinder number 5 I believe is the one on the driver's side pointing toward the brake booster. You can't really see it, but I just use a pair of needle nose pliers to retrieve the old spark plug, not a huge deal, just make sure you've got a good grip and hold a dish under it so you don't drop it on the floor if you're planning on putting it back in. ( I change mine every two years, and take them out the year between to clean and re-gap them ) When putting one into cylinder 5 just drop it down the sleeve, then slip the deep well socket and a short 2-3 inch extension down in there, wiggle it til the spark plug is seated, turn it backwards about one full turn to line up the threads, then start screwing it in like normal.

 

I use a skinny stick magnet to drop the plugs in- i'd be afraid of bending the electrode with a free fall.

 

cber I guess it is the sleeve that I am trying to describe, those metal round casing, my? is are those really necessary? but I don't really think they would come off, it would make the plug changing a lot easier.

 

Are you talking about the metal sleeve with the spring in the bottom? Cause usually mine come out with the plug wire. Then I slid it over the wire and reconnect my plug wire as usual as 1 unit. All they are is a heat shield to protect the wire from hot engine parts. It's not 100% nessacery but later it could burn through the wire.

 

I read an article about those metal sleeves and they are susposed to be removable. They said to squeeze the tube together and they will release from the slot at the bottom. There is a cut down the length of the tube that is used to compress the tube and remove it. Yea right, unless the engine is rust free, I tried to remove my and ended up crushing one trying to remove it. Mine are rusted in place, had a tough time using a socket to bend it back into a tubular shape. My plugs are, I'm sure original, and I can not break them loose. Guess I need to drench the plugs and those metal sleeves with PB blaster and let it sit for a few days to see if I can get the rust and crud out of the sleeves. I really don't want to break off a plug trying to remove them.

 

Get what ever tool that you can to scrape down around the spark plug base, then use air to blow out any dirt/rust out of those sleeves and then use some of your pb blaster.