riverfever
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Woodland Park, Colorado
My Impreza developed a real minor dead spot just off idle last week. I knew the plugs were originals from when the new motor went in about 22,000 miles ago so I figured I'd start there. When I went to pull the first plug, I heard/felt a snap and then no resistance at all. This is what I ended up with:
The nut portion of the plug had sheared right off.
I went ahead and finished up the job while thinking about how I was gonna go about this. My plan at that point was to wait until Saturday when I'd go back up to our high school and use one of the MIG's in the shop to weld some kind of extension on to an E Z Out. The plugs on the Subie Flat 4 sit about 6" down into the head so that was the issue. After I finished up all the other plugs I started to look around and this is what I came up with:
I ended up putting the E Z Out into the ratchet end of a 3/8" extension. The fit was close and I figured it wouldn't take much torque to get what was essentially a hollow bolt in the head out. So I taped it up real good. Then I used a 10mm socket on the other end. I put a 10mm allen socket on the driver and used that to be able to turn the whole thing.
I had actually taken another old plug and used a Dremel to cut off the nut so I could see what I was dealing with up close. This contraption worked perfectly on the bench but all it would do down in the motor was not bite. There is a really small copper washer that sits way down in there between the porcelain and the steel and luckily that didn't end up down in the cyclinder. Finally I figured it didn't matter whether I had some extension that welded on or something with Play Doh as there wasn't any bite. As a last resort I hammered the end of the tool just once to try and drive it down in there further. It worked. It bit. I was able to break it lose and then the rest was gravy. I think I'm in the clear. There were no shavings created from the extractor. I've seen the porcelain crack on plugs but I've never seen this happen. The new plug went in shortly afterwards. I buttoned everything back up and the motor fired right up. Dead spot's gone.
The nut portion of the plug had sheared right off.
I went ahead and finished up the job while thinking about how I was gonna go about this. My plan at that point was to wait until Saturday when I'd go back up to our high school and use one of the MIG's in the shop to weld some kind of extension on to an E Z Out. The plugs on the Subie Flat 4 sit about 6" down into the head so that was the issue. After I finished up all the other plugs I started to look around and this is what I came up with:
I ended up putting the E Z Out into the ratchet end of a 3/8" extension. The fit was close and I figured it wouldn't take much torque to get what was essentially a hollow bolt in the head out. So I taped it up real good. Then I used a 10mm socket on the other end. I put a 10mm allen socket on the driver and used that to be able to turn the whole thing.
I had actually taken another old plug and used a Dremel to cut off the nut so I could see what I was dealing with up close. This contraption worked perfectly on the bench but all it would do down in the motor was not bite. There is a really small copper washer that sits way down in there between the porcelain and the steel and luckily that didn't end up down in the cyclinder. Finally I figured it didn't matter whether I had some extension that welded on or something with Play Doh as there wasn't any bite. As a last resort I hammered the end of the tool just once to try and drive it down in there further. It worked. It bit. I was able to break it lose and then the rest was gravy. I think I'm in the clear. There were no shavings created from the extractor. I've seen the porcelain crack on plugs but I've never seen this happen. The new plug went in shortly afterwards. I buttoned everything back up and the motor fired right up. Dead spot's gone.
