I have a 1995 GMC Safari van. Driver’s side rear park plug was broken off in engine while trying to replace it. It is in a very confined area so the “easy out” will not fit. How do you recommend I get it out?
What part of the spark plug broke off? If the porcelain part broke off and the hex is still intact, then heating up what’s left of the spark plug with a torch and then letting it cool down might do the trick. I had to do this on one of the spark plugs in a Chevy pickup that had the plugs in the engine for 150,000 miles.
Tester
Unfortunately, the spark plug is broken off below the hex head. Any other ideas?
If a wire feed welder can’t get to what’s left of the spark plug, look for a replacement vehicle.
Tester
You will have to pull the head off the motor. Then you can drill out the old plug on a work bench. The hex nut material is broken away, and that leaves vertually nothing for any tool to grab onto. That means drilling it out, and in the cramped area there is no way to make sure you can drill straight into the plug and not hit the threads in the head.
To break a plug off in this way means that plug is “welded” into the head, it isn’t coming out now unless you drill it out. If you could do this with the head on the motor, look at all the drilling debris that will get into the cylinder and be sitting on the top of the piston. As soon as you put in a another plug and fired up the motor you destroy the cylinder wall. No real option, take the head off or leave the busted plug in place.
This could be more labor cost than you want to spend on an old truck. Perhaps you can disable the fuel injector for that cylinder and get by for awhile. Without shooting gas into the cylinder at least it won’t be polluting the air as you run it. This could be the end of the road for the van.