Stripped spark plug

[Motorhead350]

How long will it take to fix on a car after the headers are off?

[Directedby]

Is the head stripped or the plug?

If head is stripped, it is a messy job to pull head off. Time depends on who is doing it and with what tools.

Good luck. I hope your MM head isn't stripped. Yuck.

[jgc61sr2002]

Stripped Plug - That doesn't sound good. A possible fix for a stripped head would be a Heli Coil.

[Motorhead350]

It's the plug it self and was told I need to bore a new hole and all of this scary stuff I don't want to do myself.

[Directedby]

It's the plug it self and was told I need to bore a new hole and all of this scary stuff I don't want to do myself.

I would not do it myself on the Marauder. I pulled heads off '69 mustang - much easier, but still a PITA.

Head most likely can be fixed if stripped, but it does have to come off.

Dealer will charge a fortune.

Might want to find a good mustang mechanic.

Good luck. Problem with aluminium parts and engines is you have to real careful - always use a torque rench.

[Motorhead350]

Sounds like it's a good idea to leave this to someone else to fix. Thanks

[MENINBLK]

1 - Put Plug back in engine.
2 - Drive Marauder to Dealer.
3 - Tell Dealer - "Engine has a miss while accelerating."
4 - Let Dealer discover stripped plug and fix under warranty...

['03BlkMM]

I think it could be done on the motor with the right equipment.
If you can gain access to a bore scope that would be the key piece of equipment. Rotate the engine until the piston in question is at the bottom of its stroke. Use the proper helicoil drill bit and drill out the hole. Use a bore scope to see how much debris has fallen into the hole. Next you need a line to attach to your shop vac that will go into the spark plug hole and flexible enough to move around in the cylinder. Get a piece of 3/8" ID poly line approx 3' long and wrap a rag around the OD of the line at one end, wrap it a couple of inches from the end of the poly line so you don't block off the end of the line. Wrap the rag up with electrical tape to where it makes a ball large enough to stick on the end of a shop vac hose and not be sucked into it. Now you have a flexible small diameter vac hose. Go into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole with the small vac hose and direct it to where the debris is. This is why I said to rotate the piston to the bottom, it gives you more room to be able to manuever the poly line. Once you think you have removed all the shavings, inspect it with the bore scope. Keep going in and vacuuming it until you think it is completely clean. When your ready to do the tapping use some bearing grease and goop up the business end of the tap so that the metal flakes are captured in the grease as you tap. Once your done tapping I'd inspect it with the bore scope again to make sure nothing fell in. Then install your new helicoil and sparkplug.

I work as a technician in the semiconductor industry and I have to go into systems on a frequent basis to clean up silicon chips. We have a variety of hoses like this to save us from having to spend hours and in some instances days tearing systems/assemblies/robots apart to get to the debris. I don't see why this method wouldn't work in this instance as well.

[CRUZTAKER]

1 - Put Plug back in engine.
2 - Drive Marauder to Dealer.
3 - Tell Dealer - "Engine has a miss while accelerating."
4 - Let Dealer discover stripped plug and fix under warranty...
Nice! :up:

[Directedby]

In theory it could work, but one tiny piece of shaving or dust from aluminium would scratch cylinder wall. Vacuum would not get all of it because of the gap between piston and cylinder wall.

Sounds like a bad idea, IMHO.




I think it could be done on the motor with the right equipment.
If you can gain access to a bore scope that would be the key piece of equipment. Rotate the engine until the piston in question is at the bottom of its stroke. Use the proper helicoil drill bit and drill out the hole. Use a bore scope to see how much debris has fallen into the hole. Next you need a line to attach to your shop vac that will go into the spark plug hole and flexible enough to move around in the cylinder. Get a piece of 3/8" ID poly line approx 3' long and wrap a rag around the OD of the line at one end, wrap it a couple of inches from the end of the poly line so you don't block off the end of the line. Wrap the rag up with electrical tape to where it makes a ball large enough to stick on the end of a shop vac hose and not be sucked into it. Now you have a flexible small diameter vac hose. Go into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole with the small vac hose and direct it to where the debris is. This is why I said to rotate the piston to the bottom, it gives you more room to be able to manuever the poly line. Once you think you have removed all the shavings, inspect it with the bore scope. Keep going in and vacuuming it until you think it is completely clean. When your ready to do the tapping use some bearing grease and goop up the business end of the tap so that the metal flakes are captured in the grease as you tap. Once your done tapping I'd inspect it with the bore scope again to make sure nothing fell in. Then install your new helicoil and sparkplug.

I work as a technician in the semiconductor industry and I have to go into systems on a frequent basis to clean up silicon chips. We have a variety of hoses like this to save us from having to spend hours and in some instances days tearing systems/assemblies/robots apart to get to the debris. I don't see why this method wouldn't work in this instance as well.

[JACook]

How long will it take to fix on a car after the headers are off? I've done this repair. (On a Triton 5.4) The head does not have to come off. And no, Helicoil is not a good repair for this.
There's just not enough threads in the head to set a Helicoil, and it will not properly re-form the tapered plug seat.

What you need is a TimeSert kit. http://www.timesert.com/Triton-repair.html
The damaged spark plug hole is reamed out, using a stepped reamer that comes with the kit. The reamer undercuts
a step where the insert will seat. You then tap the hole, and install the insert. The last step involves running a tool
into the insert that presses a tang into the cylinder head, locking the insert in place. The repaired hole is dimensionally
identical to the original, including the tapered seat, and the insert will not come out.

The kit will run you about $125.00, and is worth every penny.

Here's another tip- When reaming and threading, connect the exhaust port from a shop vac to the tail pipe,
and rotate the engine until the air is blowing out of the hole that's to be repaired. This, along with grease on
the reamer and tap, will help keep chips from dropping into the cylinder. I also use a second vacuum with a long
thin tube attached to vacuum the spark plug recess.

[Thomas C Potter]

JACook and Blk03 offer good advice, but I would add to that to have the piston about 1/2" from BDC. This will allow you to move piston down in increments to final inspect for debris.