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I am currently 15 and just bought my first truck a 97' F-250 HD. I get my license in April, so after 9 months of repairs I am making my final adjustments. With 156k on the enine and no service records it seemed fitting to replace the spark plugs. I started on the passengers side using 5/8" 6 point socket. Cylinders 3 and 4 were easily removed ( to my surprise there was a mix of autolite and bosch spark plugs). When I reached cylinder 2 the socket was a tight fit which made me think that it was a 16mm rather than a 5/8", but I continued to use the 5/8" socket at which point the spark plug seemed to loosed but to my surprise the hex nut had stripped. Being the wiz that I am I attempted to grab the plug with a pair of vice grip's and I snapped the porelaine. Now I am left with a snapped stripped and no money left for a mechanic. Please help
Ok, so the just the porcelain part broke flush with the steel hex head?
If you can still get a socket on the hex, that's still ok. Your best bet is to try an heat the area of the plug up. And if you hadn't broken the porcelain part off, I would have said to run the engine for a few minutes to let it do the work of heating it up for you. That would have made removing it far easier.
If you rounded off the just the top of the hex, you may still be able to beat a socket on it completely. Were you using a spark plug socket with a rubber inner piece? I've found those pointless with removal but ok with install.
Pulling the inner fender wheel well may also help you with getting a better look at it.
Ok, so the just the porcelain part broke flush with the steel hex head?
If you can still get a socket on the hex, that's still ok. Your best bet is to try an heat the area of the plug up. And if you hadn't broken the porcelain part off, I would have said to run the engine for a few minutes to let it do the work of heating it up for you. That would have made removing it far easier.
If you rounded off the just the top of the hex, you may still be able to beat a socket on it completely. Were you using a spark plug socket with a rubber inner piece? I've found those pointless with removal but ok with install.
Pulling the inner fender wheel well may also help you with getting a better look at it.
should I try to pound on a 12 point or 6 point socket
I am currently 15 and just bought my first truck a 97' F-250 HD. I get my license in April, so after 9 months of repairs I am making my final adjustments. With 156k on the enine and no service records it seemed fitting to replace the spark plugs. I started on the passengers side using 5/8" 6 point socket. Cylinders 3 and 4 were easily removed ( to my surprise there was a mix of autolite and bosch spark plugs). When I reached cylinder 2 the socket was a tight fit which made me think that it was a 16mm rather than a 5/8", but I continued to use the 5/8" socket at which point the spark plug seemed to loosed but to my surprise the hex nut had stripped. Being the wiz that I am I attempted to grab the plug with a pair of vice grip's and I snapped the porelaine. Now I am left with a snapped stripped and no money left for a mechanic. Please help
They make special sockets for grabbing stripped nuts. I think they're called Alligator grips? That should definitely work. I'd be worried about pounding on a socket just because I'd be scared of damaging the threads in the head.
They make special sockets for grabbing stripped nuts. I think they're called Alligator grips? That should definitely work. I'd be worried about pounding on a socket just because I'd be scared of damaging the threads in the head.
Being scared of stripping the threads I opted to buy some Irwin Bolt Grips https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-BOLT-...r-Set/50146292
Unfortunitley this worsened the problem and the threads snapped inside the block head. Any sudgestions?
They make special sockets for grabbing stripped nuts. I think they're called Alligator grips? That should definitely work. I'd be worried about pounding on a socket just because I'd be scared of damaging the threads in the head.
Being scared of stripping the threads I opted to buy some Irwin Bolt Grips https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-BOLT-...r-Set/50146292
Unfortunitley this worsened the problem and the threads snapped inside the block head. Any sudgestions?
Being scared of stripping the threads I opted to buy some Irwin Bolt Grips https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-BOLT-...r-Set/50146292
Unfortunitley this worsened the problem and the threads snapped inside the block head. Any sudgestions?
As I had mentioned in my previous post I had stripped the spark plug, using a hex nut, on cylinder 2 on my 351w 97' F-250. I later snapped the porcelain attempting to grip it with some vice grips. At this point I decided to but some Irwin bolt grips, which did function well, but the spark plug's threads unfortunately snapped in the block. Please help.
At this point you have two options. Crank the engine over and hopefully the compression will blow the rest of the porcelain out of the metal so you can try to use an easy out. Option two. The hard has to come off.
At this point you have two options. Crank the engine over and hopefully the compression will blow the rest of the porcelain out of the metal so you can try to use an easy out. Option two. The hard has to come off.
Just crank it for like 3 seconds? How would I go about that?
02-28-2017, 10:41 AM
