Hi,

My number 4 spark plug (passenger side, second from the front) seems to be stuck and i'm not sure what the problem is. Actually it's not stuck as far as I know but instead both my 5/8" sockets wont go in far enough to turn it. I have a regular old 5/8 socket and a 'spark plug only' 5/8 socket.

All of the other plugs came out and I replaced them just fine.

It seems like the heat shield that surrounds the plug is a bit dented and I can see with a flashlight that there is signs of rust on the rim of the plug. That's a bit odd because the other plugs show no signs of rust.

I tried other sockets with the hope that maybe the plug is for some reason the wrong size however all of my larger sockets, even the next one up i.e. 11/16ths wont fit inside the heat shield effectively ruling that attempt out.


Anything come to mind? what should I check next? is there a way to remove the heat shield? maybe that would help but i have my doubts.

I have all the other plugs replaced so i'm not sure i want to crank the engine to take it in unless i have to, although around me I know there is a 'mobile mechanic' i can call that will just come to my house to take a look at it.

 

Take off the heat shield and clean the debris from around the plug. I usually spray (the heat sleeve) with some rust penetrant then grab them with some pliers, twist some and yank it out. If it wants to be a PITA then tear the damn thing out...lol.

 

if you can get a pair of vice grips on it and yank it out in one swift motion, by all means do it. but if its seized in the head, dont bother with trying to get it out, its a pita.

get a small flat head screw driver and scrape the dirt out from around the plug and just keep scrapin it out till you can get your socket in there. thats 2 mins vs 3 hrs trying to get that bear to come out

 

Interesting.

I thought I'd read that those shields came out but when I went in there they looked like they were part of the engine, as if they were welded or something.

I'll spray some PB blaster in it then, I wasn't sure if spraying a lubricant or anything of the sort near a spark plug was a good idea or not.

 

scrape it real good with a screw driver and use compressed air to blow all the crap out

 

like i said if it wont come out with little effort dont bother muscling it out, they're a bear to remove in many cases. simply scrape then blow the dirt out

 

So the heat shield won't budge, definitely either it was never meant to be removed or it's seized.

anyways, i'm not sure where to go with this now.

There isn't enough space between the plug and heat shield for my sockets to go in far enough to grab the plug, so I can't loosen the plug.

I've let PB blaster sit inside the heat shield surrounding the plug for a couple days but that didn't loosen anything.

Anyways, what would a mechanic do to grab this plug to remove it? Is there a special tool i can get? what would have to be done?

 

you need to remove the heat shield without breaking your spark plug.
the shield is one piece, formed into a circle. you'll see an open seam running longways.

get a BIG pair of pliers and squeeze/deform it down at the head, but DON'T get carried away and break the plug.

if that doesn't work, use a chisel and hammer, and dent it inwards down at the head. do as much damage as you can to the heat shied and it will eventually come out. just DON'T break the spark plug.

 

Have you cleaned the hole out as good as possible, like with compressed air? If the socket even remotely grabs the plug , tap the socket to drive it on the plug.

 

have you tried scraping the dirt out with a flathead screwdriver?