I've managed to twist off the top half of the compression test adapter in the glow plug hole of cylinder number 1. It could have been worse; I could have started with 7 or 8...

I was able to pull the Schrader components out through the hole in the adapter, so at least they're not rattling around on top of the piston. I don't know what these are made of, but to twist off the top using fairly low torque, and to be able to pull parts through a hole that is supposed to be too small is fairly telling of extra super low quality tools. Seems to be a low grade pot metal coated with low grade chrome.

I started with a small screw extractor and it merely enlarged the hole; moved up to the next size and it has also enlarged the hole but stopped before completely working its way through. I put a fair amount of torque on it, but stopped out of concern that it too would snap off. These screw extractors are made of hard, but brittle stuff; and who decided to call them 'easy outs' anyway...

Drilling it out seems risky since I have no idea how I'd get the metal particles out of the cylinder; doesn't seem like a shop vac would be able to get the job done. I'd hate to break off the 'easy out' in there because drilling that hardened steel would be more than a PITA.

Does anyone out here have any experience removing these type of objects?

Oh, and I don't recommend buying the diesel compression tester from Harbor Freight.

Tom

 

most easy outs expand a good bit snap-on makes one like a spline that works a lot better

 

If you are going to drill it for any reason, put grease on the bit and it will collect the metal bits.

Get rid of the cheap tools. Like rbaker said try the snap on or something just as good.

Maybe spray it with PB Blaster and let it soak before you try it again.

 

Finding a good easy out aside, the only thing that I can think of is rounding up a 12 grade bolt with left hand threads and a tap of a size that would work as an extractor.
I don't know if such an animal even exists.

 

After bringing the piston to TDC I managed to drill out most of the remaining adapter and run a tap through to spiff up the threads. Early on in my drilling attempts I used grease which worked pretty well to hold the metal shavings. When I decided to go for broke I opted not to use the grease because I wanted the particles to be light and not to stick to the top of the piston if gravity had its way. I removed the injector during the process and once done with drilling and re-tapping I used light compressed air in the glow plug hole with a shop vac on the injector hole to clear out the metal particles. Seems to have worked fine.

Thanks to all for the input.

Tom