I am currently working on this truck trying to remove the cylinder head. To make a long story short, a spark plug broke while being replace on cylinder number 4. I am trying to put the engine at tdc on cylinder#1 as instructed in the Haynes manual. My problem is that when I try to rotate the engine to get to TDC, the valve in cylinder#4 is hitting the piece of the spark plug that broke off and I can't move the crank anymore. It feel s like the engine is locked up and I don't want to force the issue and end up bending a valve. Can I just take the tensioner off of the cam chain and disassemble the cam chain tensioners then pull the cam out of the cylinder head then pull the cylinder head even though I am not at TDC? If not, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should proceed.

Thank You

 

Before you pull the head, have you tried the Lisle extractor tool? Once you get the rest of the plug out, you should be able to use a vacuum or a magnet to get the broken piece out of the cylinder.

 

That is not the problem. The spark plug's metal shell is in the cylinder now and when I try to rotate the engine the valve is hitting it and cause the engine to lock up and not move. I am not forcing the issue because I don't want to bend a valve.