"Alfalfa" (alfalfa-romeo)
10/10/2017 at 21:45 • Filed to: None
11
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"Alfalfa" (alfalfa-romeo)
10/10/2017 at 21:45 • Filed to: None | 11
| 11 |
A tutorial in 30 simple steps. Estimated time: 4 days
1. Pull plug wires
2. Attempt to unscrew plugs that have probably been in there way too long
3. Realize your ratchet is just not cutting it, get your 18" breaker bar
4. Find out you have no 5/8 socket with a 1/2" drive or an adapter. Go to AutoZone for adapter.
5. Continue to use all your strength to remove 2 plugs, take a break while doing the third to put new plugs in
6. Go back to plug 3. Pull until the force required to turn is greater than the structural integrity of the plug
7. *Snap*
8. Curse a lot
9.
10. Curse some more
11. Find bolt extractor
12. Discover your tap wrench isn’t big enough for the extractor you need. Go back to the store
13. Find out that apparently non of the chain stores open weekends carry a decent tap wrench
14. Seriously, none of them. Not big enough to apply the needed torque or fit the needed extractor
15. Try to make due with what you have. Use a ratchet adapter to fit the 1/2" extractor into the 1/4” tap wrench. Slip a ratchet extension on the handle for leverage.
16. Use applied torque to break the adapter
17. Curse some more
18. Go back to the store, but another adapter that hopefully has more structural integrity than the one in the cheap-ish ratchet kit
19. Now break that one, too
20. More obscenities
21. Give up on making that tool work
22. Since you have to wait until Monday anyway, just have your wife take you to work so you can borrow the good tap wrench at work
23. Wake up at 5 am Monday morning with a migraine from hell
24. Take a sick day, don’t get tap wrench. Because that would be kind of awkward
25. Get driven to work Tuesday, get good tap wrench
26. Hitch a ride home
27. Use good tap wrench, get plug remains out within 10 minutes
28. Obligatory picture:
Extracting that extractor will be a project for another day
29. Install plug 3
30. Put off the remaining 2 for next weekend, make mental note to borrow tap wrench again for the weekend
gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 21:58 |
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Penetrating oil. Seriously. The great thing about spark plugs is 9 times out of 10 you can fill up the little spark plug well and let it sit for a bit. Like an hour. Or a day. Or until it starts running.
Way better than risking getting crap in the cylinder if your extractor cuts off pieces of the plug, or if chunks of plug fall in as it breaks.
Honestly I’m at the point where I won’t even put a socket on anything unless I’ve hit it with PB first.
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Alfalfa
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/10/2017 at 22:00 |
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I seriously kicked myself that I didn’t think to do that until after I broke one, with how hard the were to turn. I did end up running PB down there and will be doing the same on the last 2.
Urambo Tauro
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 22:10 |
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One thing I love about copper-core spark plugs is that their 30,000ish mile life expectancy means that I have to put a wrench on them every couple of years or so. Haven’t had one seize up to the point of breaking yet.
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gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 22:23 |
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This is the progression of tools required for me to extract an M8 bolt from my Niva’s ball joint. Back in January I attempted to undo them, and broke the nuts off all three. One bolt came out with a BFH but the other two wouldn’t budge. We beat on the bolt, we beat on the ball joint (to the point I was sure we’d be damaging it), we applied heat, nothing would budge it. Literally it was just the shaft of the bolt held in by rust. Eventually we gave up (cause it was super late) and just stuck one bolt back in and left the two broken ones in place, again held in only by rust. I put seven-fucking-thousand km on it with two of three bolts held in only by rust. They didn’t budge at all.
A couple weeks ago I tried again. I moved between provinces and need to pass an inspection, and figured it wasn’t a good idea to go in with two of three bolts holding a ball joint on being held in place by Siberian voodoo. Saturation in PB and the air chisel knocked the first broken bolt off. All it did was mushroom the second. I hit it with the grinder, and then drilled about half-way through the rusted bolt before I got it to budge with the air chisel.
I’m pretty confident this Lada was someone’s winter beater until they got tired of it and then it sat in a field for ten years before the kid I got it from picked it up. He never got it to the point it was roadworthy. Most of the fasteners underneath it have been a bear, but this one was the worst by far. And it’s only got 68,000km on the odometer...
atfsgeoff
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 22:27 |
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At least you GOT to the point of removing plugs. My F-250 refuses to even let go of the plug wires so I can GET at the plugs to change them out.
nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 22:29 |
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Reminds me of my two day, 12 hour oil change...
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Alfalfa
> atfsgeoff
10/10/2017 at 23:20 |
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The plug wires on my Bronco were a bitch, but I did manage to get them off. Leaked oil on everything certainly didn’t help.
DipodomysDeserti
> Alfalfa
10/10/2017 at 23:42 |
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At least it wasn’t on a Subaru engine.
Tristan
> atfsgeoff
10/20/2017 at 02:28 |
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Is it a 5.4 3-valve? If it’s a 5.4 3-valve, just trade it in now.
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atfsgeoff
> Tristan
10/20/2017 at 02:58 |
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Nope, older. 351 Windsor.
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Tristan
> atfsgeoff
10/20/2017 at 03:10 |
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In that case, carry on. Since my 3-valve spark plug experience that was followed by a 4.6 Mustang that wouldn’t stop vibrating that was followed by the most miserable Focus that was followed by a ‘98 Cobra with endless cam journal issues, I’m DONE with late model (especially modular) Fords.