I was working on my truck yesterday, pulled out the throttle body to clean and service, bottom, left bolt broke, got it out. Removed the alternator as I have a new 130 amp to go in. Removed all the rusted out emmisions piping and noticed egr pipe going to manifold is broke. I will block it off and keep it plugged so the check engine light wont come on. Now here is the kicker...As I was working I noticed spark plug 3 was sitting different than the others. Touched it and it broke in my hand, right down to the porcelain, nothing to grab. Spark plug 2 was a little better but still hanging on by a thread. I want to remove ALL the plugs so I dont have any surprises. Also, I noticed the ground going from the firewall to the engine was barely attached and broke as I touched it, that is an easyh fix, but glad I saw that as it could wreak havoc having a weak ground.
I know these plugs are a mother to get out. Not sure if I should pull the motor and heads and go over the whole thing right or can I get these broken plugs out without pulling the motor? There are Autolite plugs in the 5.8 currently for the curious minded out there. I called Lisle who specializes in plug removal tools and they make nothing that would work for a 5.8. Spoke to them directly. Any help would be appreciated. I am thinking of just pulling the motor and bringing it to my machine shop to thoroughly go over it. The truck is a 93 F250 HD with a 5.8, Automatic 4x4 with only 104,000 miles.

 

A motor with 100k on it should not need a rebuild but a truck that has lived for 20 years in the rust belt can be expected to have some serious corrosion problems. I say fix those things that are obvious and resist the urge to over do it.

 

I found this looking around the web hooefully it will help ya.

BROKEN SPARK PLUG



Disclaimer: I’m not a mechanic and a mechanic might be horrified at learning how I did this. Most will suggest removing your engine head but I’m too cheap. If you’re cheap too, and you don’t mind the risk, read on.

Prologue: I was replacing plugs on a 2001 Buick Century and things were going well. The spark plugs were quite stiff to remove, but nothing was too crazy. Then I got to one that wouldn’t budge. I kept the socket square, put in a bit of elbow grease, and..

*I snapped that bugger right in half.

Mine snapped at the metal part. Left inside the motor were the threads and porcelain middle. To get an easy out in, I would have to drill out the center, and potentially get chunks of porcelain stuck down in the cylinder, where they’d make a real mess. Here’s the trick on how to punch that porcelain center out without getting porcelain everywhere: turn over the motor and let the cylinder compression do the work for you. I turned the key over and within 3 rotations, I head the porcelain*center*POP out of the body. This left the metal threads and base of the plug inside the cylinder. I used a #5 easy out, 6″ 3/8 extension, 1/2″ male to 3/8″ female adapter, 16mm 1/2 drive socket, 1/2 drive, plus a 2 foot iron pipe, in combination to get enough torque. I tried many unsuccessful combinations, but this one gave me enough torque to break that plug free. Remember to center the #5 easy out and the drive line or else you might slip or put torque on the wrong angle to the plugs.

I also sprayed the plug threads several times with liquid wrench penetrant to free up the threads.

*The #5 easy out was the perfect size to use in combination with the spark plug. It gave me plenty of torque with absolutely no slipping. So, if you’ve snapped that spark plug in half how I did, you might want to look into this method of getting it out

 

Yup. I use easy outs and some heat. generally comes out pretty easy.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I bought CRC Freeze Off Super Penetrant to help me out with this. I have never used it, but many swear up and down that it works much better than PB. I am going to try and tackle all my spark plugs either today after work or this weekend. Hopefully will have good news to report, fingers crossed...

 

Got one of the two broken plugs out after about 2 hours of fussing. The other would not come out, welded to the head. Going to pull the motor this coming week! Had enough, time to do it right. If anyone has a set of GT-40 Heads, high flow aftermarket heads, or aftermarket intake they want to sell, inbox me...

 

Pull the whole motor? Why not pop the heads?

 

It's quicker to just pull the motor and it gives me a chance to go over everything thoroughly. She was a plow/work truck her entire life, time to pamper her a bit...

 

Pulling the motor may be overkill --- since the problem is in the center of the bank have you exhausted the easy out tool (Hansen, Irwin, Snap On, etc) approach? Alternatively you can drive a flat chisel "down the barrel" of the plug approximately 3/4 qtrs the way down between the body /threads and apply torque to break it free.......

 

I mean if you got the money to do so pull the engine out and go over it. I'd do oil pan, valve cover gaskets, rear main, motor mounts etc while it's on a stand. I'd also throw some performance parts at it like a cam and lifter kit, 1.7 roller rockers, and a set of long tube headers. I'd also be looking into a set of gt40 heads as you stated. You'd be surprised with how these parts wake up these engines.

 

She has been a work horse. I would pull it to. Make a list of vacuum lines and when your getting parts replace them. Nothing worse than dropping it back in and finishing it up at 11 or midnight and snap a bad vacuum line or what ever. I did the plugs on my ranger 2.3 8 plug and I pulled the intake and found a bad vacuum line I never knew was there. Just some ideas.

 

Great advice fellas and honestly, I have been itching to pull this motor and go over it completely. It will give me peace of mind, plus I want to add better heads and some goodies anyway...
I am actually excited to do this, even the wife is on board with it and looking forward to helping me restore it. She watches, "American Hotrod", with me every morning before I go to work because it has so much drama, lol. Knows everyone's name on the show too.

 

Pulling this motor was the best thing I did! It had so much rust and hidden problems that I honestly never would have caught some of these issues without yanking it out. Having the motor out in front of me allowed me to see all that was wrong. exhaust tubes in the back of the heads were completely rusted off, motor mounts were brittle and shot. Every single bolt pretty much was a struggle to get out and plenty broke. I was able to get them all out, but it is so much easier to work on the motor sitting on a stool rather than leaning over a fender! That's for sure! Upper intake had a massive leak in the back where it meets the lower. The upper intake bots were loose to a point where I was able to remove them by hand. Vacuum lines were broke. Ground straps were rusted and corroded, hanging on by a thread. I remember when I first got this truck last year and had a stalling problem once in gear. I was looking for one problem, now looking back, it could have been one or all of the above mentioned. With the motor out, I can go over everything like a fine tooth comb! Cant wait to turn the key and go with peace of mind!