Changing spark plugs on my bike. Screwing in the the new one. Long story short I overcranked it and stripped the plug. The screw part is stuck inside my cylinder, with the rest of it in my hand. [bang]
Any way to get this out?
Wilco, don't understand. You mean you stripped the threads on the head and broke the plug off? Where did the plug break?
Or do you mean the thread metal sheared off and is inside the head?
Get an Easy-out bit (or even a flathead screwdriver bit) and put it into an electric drill on reverse -- should bite into the fragment and unscrew it from the spark plug hole.
i got it out. Whew. I'm an idiot.
(http://i.imgur.com/Fvgkz.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/SEp31.jpg)
Wow... never seen that.
For future reference - the torque spec is down around 25 Nn - really not that much
I tapped it out with a flat head screwdriver. Came right out and didn't even need a drill. Thanks!
torque wrenchs are good friends. still never seen a plug do that [bacon]
"Wow... never seen that. "
Ditto here!
Glad it ended well [thumbsup]
That's a new one on me too. Glad you got it out. Defective plug?
i am surprised the steel plug threads didn't eat up the aluminium head threads
maybe the plugs are now designed to do that on over torquing? how cool would that be?
fyi if you have no torque wrench, it's usually finger tight and then turn 1/4th. the box of plugs i have in front of me has a wordless diagram to that effect.
you can use a plug driver, but turn it with one finger until the plug stops, then turn it with force 1/4th turn.
The damn thing cost $10 too! Just another part of the ridiculously large amount of money I've spent on this thing this week.
Anyone know the gap on these things? I've heard 6-8mm but I still want to check in case i mess up again.
I didn't even know Champion still made plugs; last time I used one was like 20 years ago. Huh.
Quote from: MongoReturns on April 22, 2011, 06:19:09 PM
I didn't even know Champion still made plugs; last time I used one was like 20 years ago. Huh.
yessir, very big business outside the US currently
Quote from: Wilco on April 22, 2011, 06:13:51 PM
The damn thing cost $10 too! Just another part of the ridiculously large amount of money I've spent on this thing this week.
Anyone know the gap on these things? I've heard 6-8mm but I still want to check in case i mess up again.
6mm gap?
that's some damn high voltage, how big of an alternator do you run? 2kW?
Oh make the beast with two backs. .6-.8 mm maybe?
Quote from: ducatiz on April 22, 2011, 06:22:56 PM
6mm gap?
that's some damn high voltage, how big of an alternator do you run? 2kW?
a flux capacitor will shoot an 8mm gap every time... ;D
Seriously though, I've had this happen a couple of times and I'm very careful of not to over tighten plugs. I thing sometimes you just get a bad casting.
Haha just realized you have one of my bikes - it's .6-.7. I go with .65; haven't changed plugs in like 5 years (NKG's).
I thought Champion was a US company.
.65 sounds good. Yeah, it was a bad casting. Had a hairline crack within the plug.
Quote from: gr1976 on April 22, 2011, 07:10:52 PM
a flux capacitor will shoot an 8mm gap every time... ;D
Seriously though, I've had this happen a couple of times and I'm very careful of not to over tighten plugs. I thing sometimes you just get a bad casting.
What are you people doing to the plugs?? Don't they test for cracks before they sell them??? Jesus if that happened on my 1098 it'd never come out - those stupid things go like 6" into holes.
Quote from: MongoReturns on April 22, 2011, 07:23:56 PM
What are you people doing to the plugs?? Don't they test for cracks before they sell them??? Jesus if that happened on my 1098 it'd never come out - those stupid things go like 6" into holes.
no shit....
you'd have to pull the head and go at it from the bottom.
That would suck.
Quote from: MongoReturns on April 22, 2011, 07:23:56 PM
What are you people doing to the plugs?? Don't they test for cracks before they sell them??? Jesus if that happened on my 1098 it'd never come out - those stupid things go like 6" into holes.
I used to work in an auto shop and still do a lot of maintenance for friends and family. I've changed hundreds of plugs, but its only happened two or three times. Luckily its never happened on a plug that was hard to get to (as in your 1098), but it does happen. With the millions of plugs they make I don't think they check everyone before shipment.
Quote from: gr1976 on April 22, 2011, 07:33:46 PM
<snip> With the millions of plugs they make I don't think they check everyone before shipment.
Really? ;D
i said "THINK"... [laugh]
If this did happen on a deep hole you could probably get it out with a long thin screwdriver by twisting against the side electrode. However, I'm not sure if something like the 1098 has the clearance to allow a screwdriver that long into the spark plug hole.
Quote from: gr1976 on April 22, 2011, 07:44:52 PM
i said "THINK"... [laugh]
If this did happen on a deep hole you could probably get it out with a long thin screwdriver by twisting against the side electrode. However, I'm not sure if something like the 1098 has the clearance to allow a screwdriver that long into the spark plug hole.
Negative. I actually need to take them out to properly gap for Iridium plugs - I went with the book spec for normal pugs. Stupid 1098-forum. And of course I'll be thinking of this thread when I put them back in. Definitely taking the tank off this time [bang]
Quote from: gr1976 on April 22, 2011, 07:44:52 PM
i said "THINK"... [laugh]
If this did happen on a deep hole you could probably get it out with a long thin screwdriver by twisting against the side electrode. However, I'm not sure if something like the 1098 has the clearance to allow a screwdriver that long into the spark plug hole.
It wouldn't be fun.
Yeah, .6+/-mm
Had that happen to me once, but on the old plug coming out (rusted/galled in place). Getting it out was a real PITA, it was in a car in my garage and I thought I was going to have to pull the head to remove it!
Friendly warning: I use a torque wrench every time I can, but they can let you down too.
Back in the '80s I was torquing head bolts on an HD Shovelhead. I forget the setting on the wrench (but it WAS correct) and as I continued to torque I said to myself, "Self, this seems like a LOT of torque."
About that moment the head bold snapped in two.
Fortunately it part left in the head backed right out once I got the head off and tapped it lighting with a flat tip screwdriver.
I never used that particular torque wrench again.
Sweet, take that piece, solder it onto an unused compression tester fitting, and bam! compression tester. I couldn't find one in that thread size so I made one... aahhh... good times.
Quote from: 671M900 on April 25, 2011, 05:36:00 PM
Sweet, take that piece, solder it onto an unused compression tester fitting, and bam! compression tester. I couldn't find one in that thread size so I made one... aahhh... good times.
wait....what?
Quote from: lazylightnin717 on April 25, 2011, 06:11:08 PM
wait....what?
Take the piece that broke off, take a torch, solder it to an unused compression fitting, and you have a 14mm compression tester fitting. If you don't have one.
Gotcha. I had a few [drink] last night before I read that and apparently it made no sense to me. Who woulda thought?