Greetings, I had this problem pre-covid and did not drive my LC much. But the problem I originally posted on is still present. I have a 98 LC. I have one plug that I cannot access with a socket. Here is a picture of what it looks like. It looks like some shied or sleeve is obstructing my socket. Has anyone seen this before? Any ideas?
spark plug problem....
- Thread starter rfenio
- Start date
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Looks like something has fallen in there, you can see a reflection of it in the tube. try to get a better look and some extended needle nose pliers.
awesomeissquid
SILVER Star
Might try a magnet or a hose with a small vacuum to see if you can remove it. To get a better look you might need a borescope.
if this were my truck, i'd probably buy a borescope and see exactly what's going on down in there
Amazon Long handled dental picks?
aah yeah to me the pic is not in focus... but it does look like there is something external that has fallen into the tube that should not be there.. a long thin needle nose pliers is what you need to take it out. Obviously make sure it does not fall into the cylinder...so be careful with that.. you could maybe also plug the hole via the sparkplug partially to make sure it does not fall into the cylinder..
But as others suggested having a borescope would be helpful in identifying what's in there.. they are good enough within <$20 borescope cameras that you can find on Amazon or similar IIRC.
But as others suggested having a borescope would be helpful in identifying what's in there.. they are good enough within <$20 borescope cameras that you can find on Amazon or similar IIRC.
- Thread starter
- #7
Thanks for the suggestions. It is showing the top of the spark plug. The plug is in and working but I cannot get a socket deep enough to engage the Plug. I will get some long dental pick and thin needle nose to try and grab it.
Some of the spark plug sockets have a piece of rubber that grips onto the plugs so that you can pull them out. Sometimes the rubber comes out of the socket and stays attached to the plug, I have had that happen before. It looks like the rubber piece might be stuck to that plug. I switched to a magnetic spark plug socket to avoid this issue.
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- Thread starter
- #9
I want to thank everyone who had an idea. I did look for something that had fallen into hole and thought maybe the rubber keeper on a plug socket could be a good candidate. I used a long pick to reach in there and see if I could dislodge and retrieve something. I retrieved nothing. After changing the other plugs I decided to give it another try. Something was preventing the socket from engaging the plug so I pushed the socket with quite a bit of force onto the plug and realized that it did catch but just barely. I had to apply this force as I removed the plug. So, I dont really know what was going on but I did remove and replaced the plug. Again, thanks to all for the suggestions.
- Thread starter
- #11
I used a magnetic socket that seemed relatively thin walled. I found it on amazon. I had to push hard and discovered it barely caught the plug so I attempted to loosen it and 'bingo'. It seemed to improve as I removed the plug but still had to push down. I don't know what is going on to cause this. I have never encountered this before. I believe when I installed the new plug the problem was solved but I should check to see if I can now simply engage the plug with the socket. I am not near the LC so can't check for a couple months. Good Luck.
The old plug was still in, with cushion from spark plug socket. It was the plug hardest to see - last one driver's firewall. It was a long day, and late at night. I had vacuumed around the plug, and thought I removed it. She's purring like a kitten, with new plugs, coils, and coil bolts. One of the original coil bolts had snapped after being seized. 1st time changing in 22 years. I let the bolt stud soak overnight with a cotton swab soaked in Kroil, orig formula, resting on it's side, protected area around with rags. In the morn, the swab was pretty much white, as all the Kroil had slowly dripped onto the bolt base. Then used CRC Freeze-Off. Hit a Mayhew Pro Center Punch a few times, and she was loose. Walked it out with a small pic. (The night before I was prepared to use a bolt extractor the next day) I used Nicklel antiseize on the ignition coil bolts, and hand tightened. My advice, inspect your plugs eveyr 60K even thought she may be running just fine - so you exercise the bolts and plugs, and they don't possibly seize. After 22 yrs, and 155K miles, the plugs and bolts reluctantly came out. Used contact cleaner on coil connectors, and some dielectric grease on coil base bottom inside. I just splurged and bought off the Snap On Truck - SnapOn S9706KFUAMAG spark plug socket which does not have a rubber insert. I was using the GearWrench 80546 was very good, but the rubber insert got stuck on the plugs frequently. Thanks for the reply, take care.
