Spark plug problem, big time.

[Airsign89]

So after buying my car and constantly working on it, people have started to come to me with their POS cars, project cars and the such thinking I can fix them. Its mostly worked out and I've made a bit of money on the side until this recent car. Its a v6 fiero and the owner brought it to me and had me change the brakes, ok no problem, got them done in less than four hours. Then he asked me if I could change the spark plugs on the back three cylinders that are impossible to get to and they have never been changed these last twenty plus years. I agreed and then went ahead and took off the back bonnet and heat extractors, got one off after about two hours of soaking with penetrant then blowing with air, because the 5/8 wouldn't go over the plug ends. So I started this process on cyl. 5 and when I could fit the 5/8's over the plug end I started to loosen it and it came out. Unfortunately the thread on the plug stayed in the cylinder head... So I am wondering if anything other than pulling the engine can be done? Anybody do this without rethreading the head, because it is in an awful spot to be doing ANY work? Or if anyone can think of a ghetto and or fabulous way of doing this, please speak. I am working on it now so I may not see a reply instantly. Thanks everybody.
Matthew

 

[DSMTyson]

I've accidentally overtightened spark plugs and that happened.

But since the one you are dealing with is so corroded.. it might not work. This is what I used.

I found it in my garage. Its some kind of craftsman extractor that works perfect for this kind of thing.

 

[Airsign89]

Thats exactly the kind of thing I was thinking about. How did you estimate the interior diameter of the plug, did you break one apart and measure it? Thanks for the reply and I'm glad that you helped me not lose my mind over this because the owner is starting to really piss me off with his constant need for updates. Thank you DSMTyson

 

[96' Eclipse GS]

If you can work around it, which is not going to be easy, but I would try a square easy out and a lot of WD-40 or equivalent. Worked on a 03 Dodge Caravan I had for a DD.

NOT responsible for ANY damage caused.

 

[shibby1036]

WOW thats a bummer, sorry about the luck but I do have an idea.
First I used to own a ford F150 which would do the same thing but it would litterally blow the plug right out of the head while running. im serious
how i mannaged to remove the sheared off remaining threads. i used a couple of different scribes with different angled heads to dig the threads out, and a mini shop vac with a pencil hose set on suction to suck out any loose or fallen metal fibers that i didnt get with a really long and slim needle nose pliers.
OHH IMPORTANT TIP. BEFORE I started I rotated the crank to where the piston of the spark plug that blew out was TDC, so that the pencil hose could actually reach the piston head and suck out all of the debris. but that was in a big engine bay, to whereas a pontiac fearro engine bay seems to be pretty cramped. you just might have to yank that paticular cylindar head. It would be much easier than yankin the whole motor and dropping the trans and driveline.
good luck bro, im here to help

the easy out was gonna be my very next suggestion, I would of used one but as i had previously stated my truck would blow the whole plug out and only leave sheared threads left. there was no easy out that I could of used. BUT I did have to run a tap through the threads just to be sure

 

[Airsign89]

Yeah, I am definitely gonna try one of the above extractors and give it a go. Again the problem will be space so I may have to lower the front(near the firewall/driver side) of the engine, I have been reading the fiero forums to find out the difficulty with this replacement and a lot of people recommend this just to do the spark plugs. So we'll see. Thanks for the reply's, both of you.

Yeah putting the piston at TDC is a good idea in case it does break it. What I was thinking I would do was use a magnet wand and push in down into the head and try in that way to get any engine ruining debris out.

 

[Davids97Eclipse]

+1 on easy out it's worked for me everytime.