Spark Plugs

rusty baker

My father-in-law gave us an 85 Ford van 302 that he bought new. 100,000 miles and he never changed the plugs. Any suggestions for getting them out without breaking them off?

Rehabber

Tighten them just enough so they move, then remove them. Sounds strange but it works.

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Yoyizit

Ditto, but you might try penetrating oil first.

rusty baker

WD 40 or something different?

Yoyizit

WD means Water Displacement but I guess it's OK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetrating_oil
Give it >10 min. to soak in, apply it again, then try to free the plugs.
It might be easier when the engine is hot, but be careful with aluminum engine blocks.

Scuba_Dave

I agree you need to get rid of that red x

Mort

Those will be iron heads, so you shouldn't have any problems with breaking them. I'd be concerned with the plug wire heads, though, so don't do it without another mode of transportation to get to an auto parts store.

rusty baker

I'm changing the wires, cap and rotor, too. Parts store is 1/2 block from here. And I also have 3 other vehicles.

Yoyizit

You could first measure the resistance of the wires. The spec's could be 25k, max, like for my Civic, or some other value. Wire resistance values for American cars are all over the map. I had a Dodge where they had a per foot spec and a max value spec (50k).

With my miss problem I returned my rotor and cap because it turned out new plugs solved it. My wires checked good.

ratherbefishin'

Toss the WD40. SeaFoam Deep Creep is best, Blaster PB runs a pretty close second. At least that's been my experience.
Tighten slightly first, then loosen is good advice

skymaster

I agree with the warm the engine up. Cast iron moves with cold and heat. The heads will expand when warm/hot helping to release the grip on the plug threads. yes on tighten than loosen. I like PB also. wd40 to me anyway is more myth than real use

47_47

Brake fluid works extremely well. Just don't get it on any painted surface.

__________________
What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it.

Ron6519

It's not just the red "X" that needs to be gotten rid of. This poster makes Forrest Gump look like a Mensa candidate.
Ron

rusty baker

Finally got a chance to work on it. They weren't even tight. They just screwed right out.