Spark Plug Broke Off In The Engine!

[R33Matt]

Im having a bit of trouble with a spark plug in my mates Skyline. When I started to unscrew it, it snapped! Only took a little bit of presure and it broke apart. I have changed the plugs on skylines heaps of times and ive never seen this happen before. The plugs were called "Autolite" and were put in by the guy before him. It seemed to snape at the where the metal part is of the spark plug. Its still screwed in there, Is there any way of getting it out? Some kind of special tool?

Any idea would be Great!!

Thanks

[Adriano]

So what broke, metal or porcelain?

[TRB-001]

all else fails a thread man can come out and drill and extract it for u without getting metal into the engine.....not the cheapest option tho

[James_03]

From your description sounds like the porcelain has broken apart. This has happend to me a couple of times before, on my own car and others.

They were probably incorrectly torque down during previous installation. What I have done in the past is get a vacume cleaner in there, a good hi-powered one and remove as much loose porcelain as you can from the cylinder head valley. Check to see if there are any bits you can gently remove from the plug, large pieces.

Then vac it again and start to gently take the plug out. I usually get someone to hold the vac around the base of the plug whilst I remove it.

I have done a few in the past all went ok, just have to take your time with it.

[blind_elk]

If the hex part is still attached, then just use the spark plug socket to remove it. Might try a soak with WD40 first to try and loosen it.

[doo doo]

Happened to me too, new clean threads shouldn't be tightened too much. Was lucky though- if it's broken past the hex a possible scenario is to chip the porcelain down and use an easy-out for the plug body. Though mine actually loosened in the process of chipping away the porcelain. Be careful as the porcelain could be pushed through the plug and into the cylinder.