Motorweek- Pat Goss & Spark Plug Removal Technique Different from TSB- Much Different
 

Holding a spark plug from a Ford 5.4 (late model), he stated his shop uses the following procedure:

1. Remove COPS
2. Loosen the spark plugs 1/8 of a turn max
3. Reinstall COPS
4. Start engine and shut off immediately
5. Remove COPS & plugs

His theory.....

by loosening the plugs then firing the engine, this burns the carbon off the end of the plugs that can get on the threads and of course cause the broken plug.

Ok, Since I can't picture in my mind how this would work, unless by loosening the plugs a tad allows the "fire" to travel up, burning off the carbon.

Ok techs- your thoughts? has anybody heard of this?

I don't see how that would do anything. If that technique is burning the carbon off the electrode sleeve then there shouldn't be any on there to begin with.

Loosening the plug would put the carbon under some tension and perhaps the a few combustion events will shatter it and blast it away. Seem unlikely. I would rather soften it with some of the liquid stuff first. I doubt it's an idea original to Goss (frankly I doubt he gets his hands dirty all that much), but it's not one I've heard before. For now, I put it into the same category as getting an impact wrench and zapping them out by force majeure... namely not by these hands or on my truck.

Seems to me breaking it loose and getting the first 1/8 turn is the hard part. At that point, might as well keep loosening it, rather than throwing the COPS on all 8, restarting, them removing the COPS again.

I might try it someday, though, if I found a stubborn plug that just never wanted to get easier to turn.

Do y'all who have run a couple of bottles of Techron or engine cleaner a couple of tanks beforehand notice any difference if it softened or removed enough gunk to make plug removal easier?

Since carbon is what hold the plugs in, and Techron is a good combustion chamber deposit remover, it has to help. All eight of mine came out and though I didn;t use a Techron additive, I had been using a Top Tier gas with Techron in it. I don't know if anyone has done any scientific tests, but a couple of tanks of fuel with Techron before you did the plugs would have to help IMO.

A lot of dealers recommend a BG or Motorvac service prior to a plug change, so there's gotta be something to it.

I'm a believer in techron and I've almost always used gas with it in my vehicles.