Stuck Spark Plug Chamber

[Darkcloud]

I ran in to a problem with a spark plug chamber, when putting in the spark plug in chamber 4 it goes halfway then stops the treads aren't stripped,when I checked the cylinder head (it was apart at the time of checking) the same chamber gave me issues when removing the old spark plugs. any tips would help me out alot.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

[Father Time]

Did you look at the old spark plug? See if you might have cross threaded the last spark plug.

[Darkcloud]

It was perfect but had orange residue like rust for some reason

[Father Time]

Dirt in the threads maybe?

You could try a baby bottle brush maybe to clear the threads in the chamber?

[Darkcloud]

can dirt really cause that to happen?

[nine_deuce]

Yeah, if dirt gets in the threads, it'll cause the nut or bolt to not go on properly, or in your case, the spark plug.

[johnl]

Is the head still off? Clean / deburr the thread with an appropriately sized thread cutting tap. You might get an engineering shop to do this rather than buy the tap.

[90exaccord]

It was perfect but had orange residue like rust for some reason

maybe it was thread locker resedue u need at least 350-400 degrees to break it loose the hevay duty thread locker is like welding the bolt to the thread so iono gl tho bro

[Darkcloud]

The head has been on the block for a while since I put it back on, and I really don't want to remove the head it took me a long time to B'cuz I live in apt's and the managers are assholes and dom't want to risk getttimg evicted. Is there any cleaner or something I can use.

[johnl]

You might still use a tap to clean the threads, even with the head in place. Liberally apply grease to an appropriate tap and thread that into the head plug thread until it gets tight, then turn it say another one or two turns, then slowly / carefully unscrew the tap. Now clean the grease (and whatever debris might be stuck in it) from the tap and regrease it, then re-insert the tap and turn it further etc. Keep doing this until the tap has cleaned the full length of the thread.

There is some risk of a small swarf fragment falling into the combustion chamber rather than sticking to the grease, so if you try this and it goes wrong, don't blame me (at your own risk...). Having said that, if this happens it could be worse since it will be a small piece of quite soft aluminium (not hard steel etc), so is not very likely to cause damage before it's spat out the exhaust...

[Darkcloud]

You might still use a tap to clean the threads, even with the head in place. Liberally apply grease to an appropriate tap and thread that into the head plug thread until it gets tight, then turn it say another one or two turns, then slowly / carefully unscrew the tap. Now clean the grease (and whatever debris might be stuck in it) from the tap and regrease it, then re-insert the tap and turn it further etc. Keep doing this until the tap has cleaned the full length of the thread.

There is some risk of a small swarf fragment falling into the combustion chamber rather than sticking to the grease, so if you try this and it goes wrong, don't blame me (at your own risk...). Having said that, if this happens it could be worse since it will be a small piece of quite soft aluminium (not hard steel etc), so is not very likely to cause damage before it's spat out the exhaust...

Thanks for the heads up, if I do it with the head on I'll use a magnet to pick up the fallen fragments. also should I tap when the car is coil or hot?

[Bent]

the head is aluminum (non ferrous) - a magnet won't help much there.

[johnl]

Thanks for the heads up, if I do it with the head on I'll use a magnet to pick up the fallen fragments. also should I tap when the car is coil or hot?

Definitely cold. Avoid doing it with the engine hot. When the metal is hot the plug orifice will be ever so slightly larger, so when it cools it will ever so slightly contract and the cleaned up thread may still be a little tight. In practice this contaction may not be great enough to cause a significant problem, but you might as well avoid the possibility, especially as working on a hot engine is less pleasant.

As already said, a magnet won't pick up any of the debris, which will be non magnetic (aluminium / carbon / general dirt). You need the debris to stick to the grease and the grease to stick to the tap.

[Darkcloud]

Cool I talked to my buddy that owns a shop and he I cn tap it with the head on there and I dont have to worry about the debris to much because it'll just blow through the head anyway, but the chance of the debris falling in is very slim, so I'll take his word for since he's been building motors and has encounter this problem on many customer cars. Thanks for the advice guys

[HondaBob]

If you coat the tap with some heavy grease (like wheel bearing grease, or any thing thats sticky) and go slow, back out frequently, all the metal should stick to the grease. Just go slow and a little at a time. Also remember to take the tap out and clean off the metal and grease from the tap, reapply new grease, and go some more.

Doing this should keep the metal out.


Also, you may want to look into a thread chaser tap. If you have a slight misalignment with a regualr tap, it may double thread or cross thread your hole, and that would be bad news.