ok, I've bought a 1989 honda civic si with a B18a swap and a B16 tranny, here's the problem, yesterday I began to start tuning and cleaning up the car, with my freind on the side we began our work, shocks, springs, and new bumper, when it came down to the engine, I bought some NGK sparkplugs, and removed the 1st old one and and replaced the 1st, when it came to the second,..it was extremly tight, I tried to loosen it, and it was, slowly, but it almost felt like it was on the verge of stripping, so I just changed the other 2, is there anything I can do to remove it safely? without damaging the head? it seems the owner before who did the plugs didn't know what he or she where doing

please help me out

 

spray a little wd40 in there and let it sit for a little bit, try it again slowly...most people strip there threads when installing not removing....just put a little muscle into it and get that sucker out...how old were the spark plugs you removed....id like to take a look at em, theyre probably still in good shape...and if they are it wont be a problem to leave the stuck one in that hole.

 

loosen it as much as you can until you feel it is on the verge of stripping, the pour so penatrating oil on the plug (PB Blaster), let it sit a while then work it back and fourth (tightening up and loosening as much as you can with out stripping it). That may work and it may not, if it does not you would most likely have to pull the head and Helicoil that hole. If it does work don't forget to put antiseize on the plugs when you put them in.

 

Agree. Penetrating fluid and work it back and forth. Don't just rip it out. Be nice or it could cost you.

 

Yeah i just had this happen to me last week, what i did was get penetrating oil, let it sit for about an hour, then used a breaker bar to work it out, back and forth. It was really stuck. When it came out, it damaged the threads bad enough that i couldnt get another plug threaded in there easily, so i went to a parts store, got a sparkplug thread tap, and lubbed that thing up with some lithium grease, and sent it down about 20 times, maybe 1/16th of an inch at a time, till i got to the bottom, wiping it off and relubbing every time.

New sparkplug went down that hole probably as well as the day it rolled off the assembly line. I did have to flush out the engine just to be sure there werent any more shavings floating through the oil, but it only cost me about 16 bucks total in ultra cheap oil (8 quarts), plus the oil i was buying for the change anyway.

If i wasnt going to swap the engine, or if it was a good engine, id have probably pulled the head first though.