Sparkplug boot torn inside head

[Tooth Fairy]

Am I screwed? The end of the boot on my #1 (thankfully) cylinder tore off and is stuck down inside the sparkplug hole in the head.

I can get the wrench on the plug and free it, but, I'm worried that if I do that then the rest could fall into the cylinder. Maybe it would burn up. I don't wanna take the chance so I've been trying to get it out piece by little fricken piece.

Oh and I started to take the pligs out because it started missing today driving down the road and the cap and wires looked OK so I started pulling the plugs to see if I failed one.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[turbocruiser]

A suggestion in hopes it helps...why not simply shred the boot as much as possible with the plug still screwed in tightly using a screwdriver or knife or something, then just take a shop vac, suck up all the shreds and then just unscrew the plug, get new plugs and wires from CDan, and call it good?

 

[the shed guy]

A screwdriver with a dob of grease on it makes a great small parts pick up tool as well, when they stick to the grease.

 

[Rookie2]

I wonder if you could use something like a terminal pick to dig around the inside of the boot and hook it to pull it out. Removing the valve cover seems like would give you better/closer access to the boot also. Just throwing out suggestions though..., haven't been in there that far... yet.

Good luck.


Rookie2

 

[Tooth Fairy]

Great ideas guys.

I've tried a few of those already. Going back out now and I think I'm gonna try all the other plugs first and come back to it.

I still have to figure out why it started missing.

 

[Doc]

Sears sells some REALLY long needle nose pliars...

Is it JUST rubber? Fill the socket hole up with gas. Rubber bits float to the top. When you take the plug out the remaining gasoline falls into the camber and burns when you crank the engine.

 

[flintknapper]

Sears sells some REALLY long needle nose pliars...

Is it JUST rubber? Fill the socket hole up with gas. Rubber bits float to the top. When you take the plug out the remaining gasoline falls into the camber and burns when you crank the engine.

I don't think it will burn that much gas, and the rest is going to go straight to your catalytic converter. Toyota FSM cautions against these conditions. Not a bad idea except for that.
Take it to your office, you're bound to have dental picks that will get it out! Just kidding, good luck.

 

[turbocruiser]

Is it JUST rubber? Fill the socket hole up with gas. Rubber bits float to the top. When you take the plug out the remaining gasoline falls into the camber and burns when you crank the engine.

Maybe I misread, I thought that the boot was still stuck onto the plug? If that is the case, I doubt the boot will float off the plug. However, he could put a perfect 1/2 tsp of gas in there, light it off with a match and blow that fricking boot off the plug!!! Kinda like using lighter fluid to reseat a tire bead! Just Joking.

Seriously, either long thin needle nose to pull it off if it is intact enough to pull off as one or even a few pieces, OR, just purposely demolish the entire boot with the plug still tightly screwed in to prevent boot bits from getting into the combustion chamber, and then vacuum or blow the bits out.

Ohh, something else might work, get a good long chinese finger roll and feed it down the tube around the boot til it bottoms out, then just pull and the boot might bop off, OR, you might just end up with a long chinese finger sticking out of #1 Ha Ha HA. Let us know what works, good wishes, good luck!

 

[crholliday]

Chopstix? Get the sharp-ish plastic type...

 

[IdahoDoug]

I'm not clear on what's down there still. If the thick end is all down there, then you're not getting a socket on the plug to loosen it as you say. Clarify what's left on the plug, please. I just put a new set in (thanks Cdan) and cannot understand this scenario.

DougM

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

A long set of Kelly forceps, air and a vacuum

 

[e9999]

if you break it into pieces, go to somebody with an compressor, put a tube on the line or a skinny nozzle, insert it in all the way and blow the thing to kingdom come... In a pinch a shop vac rigged backwards might do too?
E

 

[Rich]

Vacuum the bits out. Tape a short length of tubing the right size to fit down the spark plug tube to the vacuum cleaner hose.

Won't everything still on the spark plug be totally contained within the spark plug socket? Line the inside of spark plug socket with a bit of duct tape so that the spark plug be a tight fit and will then come out with the socket.

 

[Tooth Fairy]

It was the big fat end of the wire that was stuck in there. The plug wasn't accessible with the wrench until I started tearing little pieces off of it and then sucking them out with the shop vac. Once I could see the part of the plug that the socket goes onto I was able to unscrew the plug and vacuum out the rest of the pieces. Serious PITA.

All the others came out w/o a problem...

EXCEPT # 6!!! I can't even see into that one.

So I'm done for the night. Gonna watch a flick with Mrs. Tooth and give ol' Cdan a call in the a.m. and I'll gifure out how to get the pieces out later. Probably same scenario as #1, but, this time I don't get to see what I am doing.

Whatever.

 

[turbocruiser]

Well, at least with those plug wires so brittle and busted up, you probably found the source of the missing! Just trying to give you good news in light of all the frustrations. Good luck getting that #6 boot out.

 

[Doc]

How are you guys having problems with #6? I swapped out the plugs a month or two back with no trouble. Used a really long extension on the plug socket and it was fine.

 

[Tooth Fairy]

The problem I had was that on the end of the Bosch wirees I was running (not OEM) have a rubber donut on the end of the boot that has a hard plastic material inside the rubber. THe rubber has stayed around the plug and the reest of the wire has come out in my hand. I'll post pics later. Cdan is getting me the proper parts.

 

[IdahoDoug]

So...finally it comes out on post #17 that you don't have Toyota plug wires in there at all!!! I guess now you know why you had problems, eh? BWAAAAHAAAAAAAA!

J/K of course....heh......

Tip for 'ya. When you reinstall, put a little dielectric grease inside the boot and it reportedly will come off easier. Reportedly because I've done it on a couple cars lately but plug intervals being so long it will be years until I pull them. Oh wait. I recently put new plug wires on the 80 and I had put this on the wire boots when I put the new plugs in a couple years ago. They came out easily. So, one data point, I guess.



DougM

 

[ginericLC]

So...finally it comes out on post #17 that you don't have Toyota plug wires in there at all!!! I guess now you know why you had problems, eh? BWAAAAHAAAAAAAA!

I was wondering when he was going to say something about that. I talked to Toothfairy on the phone last night (I think after he typed his first post) and I knew they weren't OEM. Then when I saw his post I noticed that he left that part out. I'm thinking getting the Toyota wires back in place will solve his miss too.

 

[Tooth Fairy]

Got the plug port cleaned out last night after making a *Special Service Tool* out of a piece of welding rod. That combined with the shop vac worked great.

I will always try to buy OEM as long as I live. I didn't even know how badly it was running until I replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor and I can even listen to the AM radio now w/o interference.

I'm so happy.