I have a 2003 that gave me some ignition codes for a spark plug or coil pack problem and it idles rough. Pulled the plugs and found number five coil pack was corroded and the rubber at the bottom of it was cracked. Seemed simple, replaced all the plugs and the bad coil pack. All plugs went in fine, except for the one where the bad coil pack was. Ran a thread chaser through by hand with no problem and I marked my socket extension with a piece of tape to make sure it was actually going into the hole, but the plug won't even start to thread. Swapped that plug with another one from the adjacent hole, it went in fine, but no plug will go into the number five hole. Gave up and took it to Toyota, they want to pull the head and helicoil the hole for 3000.00. I looked in the hole and cannot see anything that would prevent the plug from seating. The old plug came out fine and the dealer used a bore scope and saw nothing.
Spark plug came out but won't go in
- Thread starter toomanydogs
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:/ Maybe I'm missing something in your post but it doesn't sound like it needs to a helicoil. I wonder if someone makes a spark plug tap (for chasing threads). There's a risk of dropping metal on the head but unless there's a big burr in the hole I can't see that being a huge problem (famous last words and all that)
One of many YouTube videos
One of many YouTube videos
That's no good. How many hours of labor do they want to pull one head, seems like a lot of money? I'd call around and get another opinion and estimate.
I think you could probably do it with the head on if you take your time and there is room. Maybe get the piston up, use lots of grease on the tap and use magnet and air to get any metal fragments out of the hole. If it's gets messed up, you'll have to take the head off anyway.
I think you could probably do it with the head on if you take your time and there is room. Maybe get the piston up, use lots of grease on the tap and use magnet and air to get any metal fragments out of the hole. If it's gets messed up, you'll have to take the head off anyway.
- Thread starter
- #7
After a chat with the mechanic at Toyota and not the service advisor, he said the plug is stripped and the dealer won't do the work on the engine the head needs to be removed. Another suggestion was a Time Sert that can be done in the vehicle. Will look into this. Thanks for your responses.
I don't get if you ran a tap through it how it's stripped.
Do you have any updates on this issue? I'm going through the same thing on my 2003 right now and I'm worried...