94 Camaro 3.4L
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94 Camaro 3.4L
I was doing a tune up today first time on this car but not my first time , I started with the left side ( the hard side ) got them out easy , then started on the easy side , got the first out on the right side , then went for the second I noticed right away when I went to break it loose it was already loose, so I thought to myself the guy I had do it before must not have tighten it up good enough , so I went to untighten it with my hand , im guessing he stripped it , because it wont loosen up or tighten up anymore , my question is does this just happen sometimes or did he jack it up by over tightening , and from the other stuff Ive read im probly gunna have to take the head off and have someone re-thread it , this is my first post and I'm not a auto guru but I have been doing oil changes and tune up for quite awhile, just basically want to hear what you more exprienced guy have to say.
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You might have to pull the head, you might not. I had a similar problem once where someone previously got the spark plug cross-threaded in the head. I'm sure it was because they tried to put the plug in from above, when it was a much easier reach from underneath the car. The new plug wouldn't start straight, so I bought a spark plug thread chaser to straighten up the threads in the head. Auto Zone carries them. Then I used a different brand of plug that had a slightly longer threaded shank to be sure I was catching good threads as well.
Your threads might be stripped and gone, but you might be able to salvage them the same way if they aren't. It depends on how deep the plug was in the threads before it stripped out. With any kind of luck (keep fingers crossed), you might still have some threads below where the plug is sitting now. BTW, if and when you use a thread chaser, smear some grease on it so any shavings will stick to the tool instead of dropping down into the cylinder.
Oh, and your car is a 4th gen. not a 3rd like where you have this posted.
Your threads might be stripped and gone, but you might be able to salvage them the same way if they aren't. It depends on how deep the plug was in the threads before it stripped out. With any kind of luck (keep fingers crossed), you might still have some threads below where the plug is sitting now. BTW, if and when you use a thread chaser, smear some grease on it so any shavings will stick to the tool instead of dropping down into the cylinder.
Oh, and your car is a 4th gen. not a 3rd like where you have this posted.
Last edited by Camaro 69; Aug 27, 2009 at 06:56 PM.
Thread Starter
|
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 7
You might have to pull the head, you might not. I had a similar problem once where someone previously got the spark plug cross-threaded in the head. I'm sure it was because they tried to put the plug in from above, when it was a much easier reach from underneath the car. The new plug wouldn't start straight, so I bought a spark plug thread chaser to straighten up the threads in the head. Auto Zone carries them. Then I used a different brand of plug that had a slightly longer threaded shank to be sure I was catching good threads as well.
Your threads might be stripped and gone, but you might be able to salvage them the same way if they aren't. It depends on how deep the plug was in the threads before it stripped out. With any kind of luck (keep fingers crossed), you might still have some threads below where the plug is sitting now. BTW, if and when you use a thread chaser, smear some grease on it so any shavings will stick to the tool instead of dropping down into the cylinder.
Oh, and your car is a 4th gen. not a 3rd like where you have this posted.
Your threads might be stripped and gone, but you might be able to salvage them the same way if they aren't. It depends on how deep the plug was in the threads before it stripped out. With any kind of luck (keep fingers crossed), you might still have some threads below where the plug is sitting now. BTW, if and when you use a thread chaser, smear some grease on it so any shavings will stick to the tool instead of dropping down into the cylinder.
Oh, and your car is a 4th gen. not a 3rd like where you have this posted.
