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timing belt/spark plug Q's

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buryurfear14

10+ Year Contributor
130
0
Jun 17, 2009
hernando, Florida
A little back story. Bought this car a month back, and on the drive home (hour and thirty minute drive) I noticed it started overheating and that the timing belt was slinging oil. So of course, not wanting to further damage anything, I had it towed. I pressure checked the coolant system to see if the head gasket was blown or where my leak was. Found the leak and the leak down rate seemed to match the leak I found so I was a little relieved. I figured I'd go ahead and check the cyl's for coolant and check the compression again. Wellllll I've always gotten away with using standard sockets to remove plugs...until now haha. Turns out I'm going to have to weld to the socket and beat the beast out. The thing I'm worried about, is I broke the plug to be able to get my extension all the back in the socket, so I'm worried about the ceramic (right? Lol) getting into the cylinder and causing problems. I plan on using a shop vac to get as much as possible out with the valves closed and then I was thinking a squirt of oil and let it crank plug free? Do you think the left over stuff in there will just turn into ash once the plug fires a few times? I really don't want to take off the head because I'm lazy and don't want to have to have it milled and buy the head studs etc. So do you think I'll be alright?

Second question, I'm assuming the front crank seal is the oil issue, although as long as its a seal that's all that matters since I'm replacing all the seals and gaskets anyway. But I only drove it maybe 10 miles with the oil slinging and it's been sitting the residue for about a month. Do you think soaking it in soap and water while I' have the engine pulled will be sufficient? The head and belt and allll of that was just redone right before I bought the car so everything is fresh, which is why I want to avoid redoing it all.


Thanks for the help in advance! Hope I didn't leave anything out
 
.....I've always gotten away with using standard sockets to remove plugs...until now haha. Turns out I'm going to have to weld to the socket and beat the beast out. The thing I'm worried about, is I broke the plug to be able to get my extension all the back in the socket, so I'm worried about the ceramic (right? Lol) getting into the cylinder and causing problems.....

WTF ... what??

So... you broke the spark plug in half and need to get it out???
 
Yeah thats what Im getting from reading too. So ONLY the plug threads stayed in the head and the rest broke off? a little confused
 
Lol yeah, I don't need help getting it out, I can handle that. I just don't want any broken ceramic pieces to lodge themselves anywhere and cause engine damage. I understand it was a foolish move, but you get complacent when you do this crap a lot. So instead of finding my misplaced 13/16 sparkplug socket, I just used a standard. Everyone does things half ass every now and then so don't bust my boys too bad! Trust me I've caught enough flack from everyone!

Btw the soaking the TB in soap and water was an "off the top of my head idea"

Yeah dudes, just the top of the plug is broken. The plug was free from the head, just trapped because the socket is stuck. I was trying to use needle nose vise grips to sort of slap the socket out and the top piece pulled right out of the plug breaking the ceramic insulation around it. Some of that is going to fall into the cylinder and there is a chance I might not get some small pieces out.
 
Tainted timing belts can't be healed. Replace.

No, combustion chambers aren't going to get hot enough to melt ceramic. Blow out the plug well with compressed air before removing the plug base. Putting oil in would hold what you're trying to get the engine to blow out.
 
Right on, I was hoping maybe there was a chance. :/ I've already blown out the crap on top of the plug but I'm sure I didn't get it all. I know oil will act as a sort of glue to the top of the piston, but at the same time I wouldn't want to scratch the wall or mess up the rings so who knows, maybe I'll just end up doing a head job. Bah, thanks for postin man.
 
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