Hi Folks,

Not a great start to my new ownership.......Was out for a wee run last night, car sounded a little noisier than usual, then pulling away from a roundabout, the most god awful racket!

Thought it was the exhaust, but on investigation a sprakplug had blown out. To add insult, it landed on the wiring loom and began to melt it through.......

I was not to far from home, so when the AA said 2 hrs, (!), I decided to see if I could wind the plug back in. I had no tools of course, so when the plug cooled, I put it back in hand tight and managed to get home.

hard to tell if the threads are knackered but it seemed to tighten up fine with the right tools.
Been reading up on Helicoils, looks like that will be plan B...My mate is into VW's and has all the right tools for the job.... Head off exercise I presume?

Happy days.

Cheers
Gerry

Head can stay on.. Atl least, thats what the garage did when my car had a popped out plug.

Thread could be damaged, as the head is aluminum.

When the plug popped out I also managed to get it back in the head and drove on for a while, but 2 months later it came out again and thread in the head was knackered..

can be repaired in situ. I had mine fixed with a threaded insert. Its lasted 2 years with now sign of popping out again.

I've had both helicoils & time-serts [sp?] fitted with the head in situ without any probs.
Plenty of grease around the plug hole should stop any swarf from getting into the cylinder bores.
Just for the record ......

.....Time-sert [right] & Helicoil [left].

hth
T.

Fingers crossed, 48pop, that it was just poor servicing and the plug was slowly unwinding.

Is it possible to take a moulding of the head's thread to check its condition - eg. by passing a slug of plasticine into the hole and pressing it against the side? Do you think this would give a good indication?

You have to break the tang off once the helicoil is wound in, i would imagine it's quite difficult not to lose that down the bore if doing it with the head still on

Should be able to 'feel' if a thread's good or not by winding a plug in by hand when cold and gaugeing how much 'waggle' there is i would think.

Swarf and "tang" were my concerns.......

Access is superb, when compared to other cars, and I'll rediscover how easy a job the head off is when I get my Haynes, (could not find the one I used to use 20 yrs ago....)

There was little "waggle" noticable, and I gingerly snugged the plug back into place with the correct socket to what I would consider normal force in an alloy head. I'll see how it does over the next few weeks as, hopefully, I can put some miles on it....

Next on the list is the annoying "tick" from the speedo, (or cable).......I have spares for both so will do the easy one first.


Thanks for all of your input !

Gerry

ben,
it's not a problem, as long as you've made sure to have a good pair of extra long nose pliers available...
< http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1854wt_782 >

Most of the swarf can be collected on the tap by coating that with grease, but if the crankshaft is set so that the exhaust valve is ready to open, then a good blast of compressed air down the spark plug hole will ensure that any bits which do manage to escape will head that direction.

ken

helicoil or perhaps head here if you need it.

re PM have an up hill struggle till Salbris and then Snet Plus all my work has come at once so not got a spare moment till then. But yes if you can put up with the grumbling till then.