Yesterday me and my friend were going to check the compression on my 97 Accord Wagon. I could not take out the spark plug in cylinder 2. It wouldnt budge at all! I didnt want to risk breaking anything. What are my options? I thought about doing the G23 swap, or maybe just swapping a F23 in because my F22B1 is getting close to 200k. My buddy told me i may need a new head or need to get the threads redone. Can i get your opinions, experiences with this problem or suggestions? Thanks.

 

What some people have done, use penetrating oil and let it soak for at least a couple of hours and try to remove very carefully. May have to try very slight turning of ratchet both ways first.

Note: Do not use WD-40, as that is not a penetrating oil.

 

alright ill try this first. i hope it works. thanks for the suggestion.

 

Penetrating oil first, then high quality socket such as Snap-on. If it still fails, I would probably impact it before taking it to a shop to get it out. Some times the quick and rapidly rotating force is exactly what the threads need. but that's the last thing I'd do before taking it to a shop since it also comes with a high chance of massive fail.

 

I would say to keep spraying it with penetrating oil a couple times a day for a few days.

You DONT want that spark plug breaking and having bits of ceramic going everywhere.

 

what would be the worst case scenario? im thinking ill need a new head or just put in a new engine. i could land a cheap F23 pretty easy.

 

Worst case scenario would be some dumbass before you cross threaded the spark plug in which you'd be left with one of three solutions:

1. Run a thread chaser down there.
2. Cut new threads and insert a sleeve. (Due to Ford's shitty designed 4.6, 5.4, and 6.8 engines, EVERY autoparts store should have sleeves in stock)
3. Remove the head and have a machine shop fix it.


This is worst case scenario only though.

 

As slomofo said those are the worst case scenarios, remember, dont be too hasty with letting the penetrating oil soak could cost you more money

 

Just checking, are you doing this with the engine warm right?
You could try an impact gun too.

 

well im gonna mess with it til pay day. couple more days. im probably going to put a little bit of the penetrating oil so that i can still drive if i cant get it out. from what it seems like, im probably better off with a new head, or some sort of swap. G23 or swap the whole engine for an F23.

 

I had the same problem on a 95 civic I had one time. I was really afraid of messing something up so I just took the head off and took it to a machine shop. Dropped it off in the morning they told me to be back about noon, 30 bucks for the work.

 

man i hope i get that lucky with the price.