How do you change the spark plugs???
 

I am fairly mechanically inclined. I have been doing all my own maintenance for years. This being my first dodge it took me 2 hours to change 3 spark plugs. I pulled the wires off from the plugs. There is a heat shield that seems to not be letting my spark plug socket go all the way down on the plug. What am I doing wrong?? Can someone please tell me so it can be as painless as changing wires on any other make. Is there a special tool? Thanks Rob

use a big pair of pliers, grab the heat shield and wiggle it loose - then throw them as far away as possible. if they won't come out, use a hammer and tap it back and forth while pulling. DONT break a spark plug.

i threw mine away 4 years ago with no ill effects.

Hit it with a BIG hammer! That's the answer to all of life's problems.

huh. I used a 3" extension and the deep socket for spark plugs and was done in about 15 minutes...heat shields still in place.

could be rusted down there. Are you using a spark plug socket?

I recently posted some pics of the plugs I pulled out of the ram I just bought RUSTED TIGHT. Changing plugs or wires on any make is the same principal. I personally have run dodges all my life. But also have helped friends with thier BMWs and such.

If the heat shield is preventing you access, just use some pliers and bend them out of the way. My truck still has them and I didnt have any problems. Sounds like someone got a little sloppy working on yours.

Also, if you do run into a plug that wont turn easy, put some WD 40 on it and let it soak a while. Then try again. If it turns for a while then stops, tighten it down a bit and soak again with wd 40.

The rubber boot inside the socket could be jamming you up, try to crack them loose with just a regular socket.

And all WD-40 will do is get them wet. You need CRC Knock'er Loose, Cyclo Breakaway, AeroKroil, or a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. If you don't have any of those then Liquid wrench will work too, it'll just take a lot longer. Liquid wrench is twice as good as PB Blaster or WD-40 but only about 25% as good as the others that I listed.

If you start backing them out and they seem to get tighter, run them back in and spray, then back out and in and out until they come out. What you're doing there is grinding the rust down and working it out of the threads every time you run the plug back in and out again.

I agree with this guy^^^

and if that don't work, GET A BIGGER HAMMER!

Any of you guys try Mouse Milk?

mouse milk? are you kidding me, i want some and dont even know what it is, thats funny as hell

I've never even heard of Mouse Milk, but I'd hate to be the poor sap who has to hook the milkers to the squirmy little critters.

When I've had to extract plugs that were rusted into place after years of sitting on an unused vehicle, I've always blown the crud away from the ports with compressed air, then soaked them down with Knock'r Loose and then fit a deep socket over the plug such that it sat on top of the jacket, and rapped on the socket with a lightweight hammer. Doing that a few times per day for two days has always worked for me. The same technique, sans socket, works well for freeing stuck valves on an engine that's sat unused for a long time -- just don't hit them so hard that you deform the stems or you'll hate the result later.

A good piece of pipe or a breaker bar has never failed to loosen even the most stubborn bolts, at least for me. Got an impact wrench?

Hey, finally someone else on here has used Knock'er Loose
That can end badly with spark plugs. If you manage to snap the threads off in the head or strip them then it will be time to pull it to drill and tap it.

I thought some of those other products were the best until I tried the Mouse Milk. You probably have to order it.

true story - mouse milk has a very short shelf life. acetone/ATF mix is a cheap do it yourself mix.

more BS - it requires very small fingers to milk the little boogers.

back to true story - i would try all other methods before using an impact or extremely long breaker bar on a spark plug. the odds of making things worse are high.

Very high.

I was about 12 or 13 years old the first time I had to remove a head to Heli-Coil a spark plug port (on a motorcycle), and about 15 the last time (on a V-8). I learned not to use muscle when finesse is called for.

breaker bar = very high FUBAR factor.

You just have to be smarter than what your working with.

i wish i could find CRC Knock'er loose. no auto store around here sells it. the only CRC product they sell for removing rusted bolts is something like Freeze Off. don't know if i would use freeze off on a plug put go for any CRC product..knock'er loose

a lot of people say not to break the porcelain part of the plug, but if this happens, is the plug FUBAR? i could see why if you were installing them they would be a problem but removing them?

breaking the porcelain shouldnt be a prob at all on the way out....hell your just gonna throw them away anyway...

Chrysler put those there for a reason. It's to preserve the plastic on the spark plug wires, as there is some pretty intense heat down there above the exhaust manifold, even worse because of convection.

well you think if they really wanted to keep the heat shield idea they would have gone with a half shield. more room to access the plug but it still guards from the heat. i don't know, its a toss up on this issue. i was gonna remove mine whenever i do my plugs. has anyone had problems after removing the shields?

I believe freeze off has very similar chemicals when compared to Knock'er Loose with the added freezing chemical. It won't damage anything with the freezing factor.
The porcelain breaking isn't a problem, the threads getting hosed up is. I've broken a couple, it just makes the plug unusable.
My headers sit around 400º at idle just to give you an idea. I would think that the only concern would be the plug boot melting and allowing moisture to seep in there, or exposing the inner part of the wire and getting cross fire.