Last night I returened from a business trip and my son had been driving my S around for a few days and (according to him) one of the spark plugs was looses and the engine was running rough.

Well I pulled the extender and the plug was out of the hole.

When I tried to screw it back in - yep - it won't seat. The theads are stripped.

Has anybody had this problem? Is there any good way to fix it without taking the head off?

Thanks.

 

Do a search on "stripped spark plug". LOTS of info. Seems to be an issue with some aftermarket plugs and proper torque.
Jim

 

Hope all thats needed is a Heli-Coil to fix this, but if you need a newish head they can be found on E-Bay. I've seen a few there that came from cars with JCW upgrades, I baught one $350 just incase this happened to me. Got my fingers crossed, oh ya I torque the sparkplugs every 1000 miles on my toy.

 

I fixed one with a KD Back-tap spark plug thread tool. I was surprised when the plug threaded nicely back in and torqued to the requisite 20 Ft/lbs. It has been holding ever since. About 8000 miles.

If you can find someone with the tool, it is well worth the try as it does not require removal of anything to use it. If not, my suggestion is HeliCoil. We were prepare to spend all night doing that but as I said, the Back-tap worked amazingly well.

Good luck,

Rich

 

Rich

Thanks for the info on that tool. I learned something today. ...............

JohnG

 

Thanks for all of the response. I will try the re-tread tools first then go from there. Not sure about the heli-coil. I've done a few of those over the years and would probably replace the head with a "take-off".

Again thanks for all of the responses.