A mechanic friend and I were changing the dreaded plugs on my truck today. All 7 went fine with some creeking and noises until we go to the back plug on the drivers side. The metal jacket part (sleeve that the socket fits on). came out and left the ceramic center and the lower metal sleeve in the cylinder. We soaked it with Kroil earlier but it won't budge. Well the ceramic broke off with us pulling on it with pliers. Now their is nothing to grab onto and nothing to screw the extraction tool into. The mechanic has it soaking in Kroil overnight and is going to try it in the morning. He was thinking of starting it I think and seeing if it shoots it out. His other thought was to use an ice pic and try to break up the ceramic to get it out of the way so the extraction tool could be used. I was concerned aobut the ceramic being left in the cylinder and he said his shop vac with attachment would clean all that out. Please help. What do you suggest.

email me please. eafam@msn.com

 

I would not try running the engine and popping it out. There have been several that have broken the porcelain and vacuumed it out. I do not remember if the video discusses that, but you might watch it and see.

mms://multimedia.ford.com/seopts/Tech26_250k.wmv

Good luck.

 

Go here and watch the video on episode 26 [this is from Ford]: http://www.flatratetech.com/index.php?categoryid=4

 

wow i just watch the change the spark plug video..all i can say they are not your father's spark plugs anymore. how much do they cost?simple tune up could cost you a head r&r that's another reason to lease a truck

 

OK, I don't know who your mechanic friend is but DO NOT try to crank it or JAM anything down there to break up the porcelin. Broken porcelin pieces will damage the cylinder. Not to mention you could damge the head itself. If you want to do this with out having to dump a whole lot of money in then I would remove the head. I know I have not been here long I know how things get damaged. When you start trying to push your luck then you could get in over your head. If you still try to get it out with the methods you tried then I wish you luck. Do what ever you can to keep debris out of the cylinder. Good Luck

 

The Ford TSB actually says to break up the porcelain and vac it out.

 

I did not know it says that, but I would still be extremly careful if you don't have much mechanical experience. Obviously I don't know your mechanical experience. I just know in the past I have had to fix vehicles that people have gotten way over there head on.
I would suggest not breaking all the porcelin up if you can help it, just enough to get some threads tapped. I wish you luck.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. It is a crying shame that we are faced with this type of choice when it could have been avoided with a properly designed spark plug.

 

Ahhhh, another "engineering masterpiece" from the Ford Motor Corporation....

Last time i saw this happen in the shop, it cost the customer almost $3000, for a "tune-up"...

Imagine what us "flat rate" guys feel like doing these under Ford ESP, or factory warr, damn that pays good!

 

How many miles should I get my plugs changed so this wont happen to me?

 

30-50k if not sooner. If u have less then 60 I would get it in ASAP, or do it urself but if more Id say screw it and wait its gonna suck either way then.

 

I had the same thing happen to me during my supercharger install on the exact same plug. The dealership here had to break some of the porcelin out to get the extraction tool in there. They just vacummed it out and then stuck a bore scope down there to make sure there was nothing left. Luckily they got the plug out. Total bill was 250.00 hopefully you can catch a break too.