Not to hijack but FFS would these manufacturers make more reliable 02 sensors, and tire pressure sensors for that matter… every car i’ve driven gets an 02 code. Mine has had it for almost 2 years and I am not getting it fixed until right before my emissions test.
That being said **QuickSilver’**s idea is great. Might get them in the sweet spot to be removed if they were cross threaded or something. Also, I’m sure you already know but put some anti-seize on the new ones when you put them in, so it won’t happen again, its gotta be a pain in the ass when something relatively minor turns into an ordeal.
It’s still unclear to me from the OP’s telegraphic comments whether the problem is the socket spins freely not turning the sparkplug or whether the socket engages the sparkplug but the maximum torque they were willing to apply wasn’t enough to turn the plugs.
If the latter I’d strongly advise against trying harder as FoieGrasIsEvil and **QuickSilver **suggest. With 21st Century plugs they can run (adequately) for the life of the engine.
OTOH, if the previous owner was an idiot and all cylinders have cross-threaded or red LockTite-ed plugs installed, your effort to remove them may (will?) result in a non-running engine and even more expense to repair what you broke. Perhaps even ratcheting to the level of the car being a constructive loss.
It’s probably not broke enough to warrant “fixing.” Yet. You can break it more and *then *it’ll warrant fixing. But you’ll really be in Hulk Smash mode when that happens. Ask me how I know. On second though, I’d rather not rehash that particular fiasco. Take my word for it. Don’t go there.
I didn’t suggest she try harder to remove them, I was just speculating that if they were installed that it follows that they can be removed. I completely forgot about cross threading and loc-tite though. Why anyone would use something like that on such an enclosed space on a part that’s meant to eventually be replaced is beyond me. It’s not like the plugs will thread themselves out if they’re installed properly.
Aside: can we not come up with a better material for spark plugs in 2017 than fragile ceramic?
My two cents:
Since you mentioned using a sledge hammer…whenever I hear someone say that (especially about cars), I always suggest using a breaker bar before smacking the ratchet with a hammer. If you can find a chunk of pipe or really anything to slide over the end of the ratchet to make it a foot or so longer (I’ve even just linked a box wrench over them), that will oven make a bolt break free so easily you’ll suddenly wonder if it was even screwed in all the way to begin with.
OTOH, if you meant using the sledge hammer to bash the socket on to the spark plug further, that’s different. You mentioned picking up a spark plug wrench. You could try that. Others mentioned checking the little rubber boot thing, you could remove it to make sure it’s not in the way. Also, take a look in the well. If there’s a bunch of circular marks/scratches above the plug, you’ll know the socket is bottoming out before it gets on the plug and a plug wrench is what you need. That’s how I learned about their existence when I couldn’t get the plugs out of my bike.
TL;DR
Can’t touch the plugs: Get the plug wrench you mentioned.
Can get on them but not turn them. Breaker bar (and maybe some PB Blaster, but make sure it’s gone before you start the car again, don’t want an engine fire).
One last thing. SouthMainAuto on youtube as a good video on how to deal with busted spark plug. That is, getting it out, drilling out the hole, retapping it, fixing the threads etc. You might want to take a look at that so you know what you’re in for it you destroy it in the block. Scotty Kilmer can probably do the same thing in a 2 minute video (with 45 seconds of it being screeching tires).
That can withstand that kind of heat and not conduct electricity and, to be honest, spark plugs really don’t break that often.
I’m guessing it’s the insulating properties they’re after. They still use ceramic on high tension wires you see up in the air.
The only way to break the ceramic is to drop the plug or to not get the socket firmly seated before torqueing. Or to torque crookedly without counter-bracing the ratchet head. All of which are amateur moves. Not to say I’ve never done each of them. But it’s been awhile.
And even then, if the spark plug well is that tight, the socket very well may not have enough space to hit the ceramic anyways. Heat can break them, but in those cases, you’ll still have the actual nut for the socket to grab on to. Which makes me wonder…
So I went back to the video I mentioned about removing a broken spark plug and fixing the threads. Turns out the plug wasn’t broken, per se, it hand blown out, and taken the threads with it (stripped them on the way out). That makes more sense.
Of course, people find interesting ways to do things, and sometimes that breaks things. Sometimes those things break right away, sometimes they break because someone working on them later doesn’t know what’s going on, sometimes they break because the person that installed them in some goofball way didn’t know that the way they did it caused them to vibrate, be closer to a heat source, make them rub against something etc.
I don’t know about the engine you have, but my older BMW came with special very deep sockets for the plugs. Like 7" long. A cross bar fit into holes in the end to evenly torque it.
I’m convinced that the mentality underlying “German Engineering” is “good engineering is making a system as ridiculously complicated as possible yet still manages to work most of the time.”
I tried every deep (and regular) socket size on Earth, including a breaker bar and the cheapass socket included in the car’s tool kit. Nothing could grab onto the hexes, including a rubber/foam-lined socket. I tried all six and even disassembled the cabin filter unit so I could get in to bear down on five and six.
Neighbor guy, who was an Army helicopter mechanic, couldn’t get anything to work either Kraken only knows what the previous owner shoved down there, maybe it’s secret alien technology.
At any rate, I got the coils and boots back in and the car fires up very nicely and seems to not idle as rough. Screw doing anything with sensors at this point, I covered the SES light with electrical tape.
At my house we call our senior BMW “the magical self-healing car.” Weird shit seems to be wrong, and then it goes away; several times I’ve thought it was her time to go and I made funeral arrangements, then all is well the following day. Not to say that I haven’t paid to fix some valid issues . . . but it’s a strange car.
I’ve seen some spark plug sockets specifically marketed as “thin-walled” indicating that in some cases there is very little space between the spark plug hex and the wall of the access tube.
If it’s anything like my Mini, you cannot replace the plugs without the proper socket. It’s not a question of skill, it’s a question of specialty tools. Only the proper tool will work. And if you use the wrong tool, and break something, you’re totally screwed.
I got a pre-cat 02 sensor error from OBD scanner and my SES light was on. I couldn’t get the sensors out (surprise!) So I put the car back together and used the scanner to turn off SES b\c the light was bugging me.
I just drove about 50 miles without the SES coming on. I scanned for codes again – nada. I’m curious about why the scan wouldn’t come up with the 02 error code again if there is truly something wrong . . ?
BTW, taking to garage next week to have sensors pulled (I couldn’t get them to budge with the biggest breaker bar on earth; I think they need to be blowtorched off). I bought new sensors and will install 'em. Just curious about the above.
Kraken only knows what the previous owner shoved down there, maybe it’s secret alien technology.
