Broken spark plug

Changing plugs in my 2010 Cayman when one of the plugs snapped off at the hex. Ceramic and hex came out leaving the threaded portion in the head. Of course the P.O. didn’t follow Porsches recommended plug change at 4 years/40K miles. Car now has 54K miles, 10 year old plugs. And it’s the forward mounted plug , a bitch to remove under the best circumstances. using Kroil penetrant to try to seep between the steel and aluminum head. Bought Knipex extractors and a friend gave me a set of stubby extractors to use similar to snap-on tool. No joy trying to extract the threaded section so far. Tried to heat surrounding area with heat, cool cycle. Attached is pic of an old plug I cut up to measure I.d. For correct extractor size. Any suggestions, help greatly appreciated. Last thing I want to do is drop the engine or God forbid, snap off an extractor in the plug hole. Still soaking the threaded section after 4 days.

I dunno. Maybe try stuffing its innards with dry ice, to shrink the plug relative to the cylinder head? Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Oh man. I guess I was lucky since I replaced the plugs in my 2010 Cayman at 10 yrs and 89K miles. I had no problems and I never even thought about them breaking below the hex head.

To all others, the universal elbow and extension angle is crucial with our vehicles. It's quite easy to apply torque at an angle not advantageous to success. CaymanBob assuming this isn't your DD. If that's true and it's not in a space where it immediately needs to be moved or is in peril, first thing to do is step back. Leave it alone, then after some down time, you begin the research. You develop a game plan and you don't rule out a tow to a shop that has had to do this exact extraction, if said shop believes they can do it; even if it's a dealer. Whatever path you must consider that removal is only half the peril, destruction of threads and an open plug hole is worse than the current situation. PCA has technical support, I've seen it advertised. It couldn't hurt to contact them, join if you need to. No doubt someone else has dealt with this, good luck, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we hope you prevail.

I would use a reverse extraction set I know that Snap on makes a set Most extractors work on tightening the extractor so you tighten the extractor to loosen the stuck item. The reverse extractor works to loosen the stuck item by working in reverse. Righty righty Losey Lefty. That what I would try

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Thanks Boris. I have a call into an Indy not far from me who specializes in European cars and he is a pretty good mechanic. Not my first rodeo by any means, and this being my 4th Porsche That I’ve owned and have done all the mechanical, body and interior work on them over the years. I’m at a point where I don’t want to damage the head and I fear if I torque to much on the extractor, it may break or the the threads will pull out of the aluminum head as well. Will have to flatbed the car out there if he wants to take on the job. The last thing I need is to pull the engine and head to make the repair. A shame all this aggravation over a $6.00 spark plug . May end up costing me thousands. The P.O. was a meticulous owner, I have all his work orders for maintenance and repairs done at a Porsche dealer and independent Shop. The Porsche dealer recommended he do major maintenance including plugs at both 4 years and 37K miles. He did not do it for some reason. He spent a lot of money on this car, can’t fathom why he didn’t do plugs. He certainly could afford it and I probably wouldn’t be in this dire situation. Good advice, taking a break to reorganize. Thanks, Bob

RS, consider yourself lucky. Best advice, change plugs at Porsche recommendation of 4 years or 40K miles. Use copper antisieze as well. Don’t care what Porsche says, I never had problems with installing or removing plugs with anti sieze. Plugs are cheap, Porsche repairs….Not! Joe Biker, I have those as well as Knipex and another style of snap on extractors. I prefer to use extractor that I can both tighten and loosen back and forth using penetrating oil as I go. So far, no luck. will more than likely take it to a shop To hopefully have it removed. Time to say a prayer to St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes…lol…

CB I have had some bad juju this year too, including two cracked teeth now. These upsetting events happen to all of us and they aren't easy to just shake off. My mom's friend has about a week left, pancreatic cancer. You and I can both get past our juju, to semi quote the Beatles: "all we need is cash" . At least ours are temporary.

Boris, I fell down last year and cracked three front teeth, so I feel your pain brother! Luckily I had some dental insurance from the VA that covered repairs. Good as new. I’m 75, still married to the same gal after 43 years, in relatively good health and still able to get in and out of a Porsche . This spark plug issue is small potatoes in comparison to all the crap going on in the country and the world. I’ll figure something out. Keep you posted…

kinda tried that Croc’ed using heat and R12 refrigerant. Had a couple 1# cans lying around. No joy there….

Just know this, I wasn't trying to minimize a bad situation, I'm sorry that happened to you; clearly you have the wrenching experience so it wasn't on you. I have insurance that only covers cleanings so depending on root canal needs and such I am looking at about what it might cost you to have someone drop the engine, fix it and put it back. The restaurant owner was all about covering me, Berkshire Hathaway, his company, would rather not. I'm in the game! And eating soup.

Speaking of bad juju I just discovered my right headlight on my GTS is delaminating hopefully I can get Porsche to replace it as it’s a CPO that I just bought 3 months ago Keep us informed how you make out

Boris, I was trying to figure cost of R&R engine, not much info on the web or u tube. Couple of hammerheads on u tube dropping a Cayman engine, not very professional. I'm taking an educated guess of a couple grand, not including any head work to remove the guts of the plug . May know more tomorrow. Good luck on getting your choppers fixed. I didn't go out in public for a couple of weeks until mine were repaired. Prior to having them fixed, I would have fit right in with the Walmart crowd though, lot of those characters in need of good dental hygiene and a bath.....

Actually Bob that's the direction I'd be looking at unless some shop says they "got you". Assuming it's a manual, drop a clutch kit / TO bearing in too, why not? If it's out then the chances are way improved for not damaging the threads, IMO.

PDK Boris. Quicker than any manual I ever owned. Got tired of shifting in stop and go traffic, changing out clutch, PP, t.o. Bearing. Just a pleasure to put it in gear and drive away. Guess I am getting old…Going to touch base with Indy tomorrow. Keep you all posted…

Did the plug rotate at all or break with no rotational movement. This important as it will change how you approach extraction.

Plug did not rotate one bit. Sheared off at bottom of hex, ceramic came out with the hex leaving threaded portion behind. still considering options…keep you all posted.

There are stub pipe removers available in a variety of sizes. I had to get one when the shower neck broke at the in-wall fitting in our shower, leaving the threaded part behind in the fitting. These are tapered and have a reverse sort of cutting splines on them, so when you rotate them counter-clockwise they dig themselves into the inside of the broken stub and basically lock in allowing you to exert quite a bit of force on them. Armour Line RP77355 Pipe Nipple Extractors, 5 Sizes, Pack of 1 - - Amazon.com Armour Line RP77355 Pipe Nipple Extractors, 5 Sizes, Pack of 1 - - Amazon.com www.amazon.com If one of these was the right size... (they are tapered).

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Please report back when you've solved this dilemma. Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Will do…

Bump, any update? Hope you were able to resolve without major surgery

Not yet, Indy shop is pretty busy, hopefully next week. Keep everyone posted…

Well, car is still in my barn. Indy has been pretty busy. Hopefully this week. So Sunday i thoughts I’d give it another go to remove the plug . Have the stub style extractors, put a torque wrench on the extension so I wouldn’t over-torque and bust an extractor. Was starting to break loose and I thought the plug was coming out. Nope, the extractor was spinning in the plug and wouldn’t come out! It spins freely in both directions but it‘s hung up on something. It’s not busted but I can’t get it out of the hole. No room to work, very tight as well as a deep hole. Now I‘ve got to figure out a way to get this extractor out. Extremely frustrating and time consuming.

That sucks so bad Bob. Hopefully the Indy has a way and can get to it soon. Shawn in VA (USA)

Shawn, my friend welded up a piece of 1/4” Al thread on a 13mm socket. I plan to fill it with JB weld , let it set up for a day on the extractor, use large fender washers to cover the coil hole and use it as a jack screw to pull the extractor. If it comes out, I’ll let the Indy mechanic deal with it from here on out.

Got the extractor out today, success! Next step use snap on straight fluted extractor with homemade 5/8” deep socket. Indy is blowing me off I think, no word from him in a week. Probably doesn’t want the job. I’ll forge on ahead. Pics are of the jack screw, deep socket and pic of what remains of the plug are left in the head. Wish me luck!

The fact the extractor was removed after using JBWeld to epoxy a socket to it speaks highly of JBWeld . I'm impressed. It almost appears in the photo of the remains in the plughole as if it's not actually concentric with the hole. I imagine that could be due to part of it being thread. Will be quite interested in how the SnapOn extractor works out.

One step closer! I wonder if anti seize could have been a contributing factor. I came across while prepping to do plugs on my wife’s Outback. 5 Things You Should Know About Spark Plugs The five things you should know about spark plugs include information on anti-seize, corona stain, gapping fine wire, torque and copper spark plugs. ngksparkplugs.com 1. Anti-seize NGK spark plugs feature trivalent plating. This silver or chrome-colored finish on the threads is designed to provide corrosion resistance against moisture and chemicals. The coating also acts as a release agent during spark plug removal. NGK spark plugs are installed at the factory dry, without lubrication or anti-seize. Anti-seize can act as a lubricant, altering torque values up to 20 percent, increasing the risk of spark plug thread breakage and/or metal shell stretch. Thread breakage can sometimes involve removing the cylinder head for repair. Metal shell stretch changes the heat rating of the spark plug and can result in serious engine damage caused by pre-ignition. Do not use anti-seize or lubricant on NGK spark plugs. It is completely unnecessary and can be detrimental. Shawn in VA (USA)

Remember, these are original Bosch plugs that have been in the car for 12 years. No antI sieze was on the two plugs I took out. I presume these plugs had trivalent plating from the factory. I think carbon buildup on the end of the plugs are the culprit Making it difficult to remove the remaining plug . May give it a try tomorrow with the snap-on extractor.

Gotcha (TLDR to the top…). Shawn in VA (USA)

I would put something in the hole and spray WD 40 or PB blaster where the threaded part is busted in the head Can’t hurt

Use a Snap on reverse extractor they work on loosening as you tighten them in unlike a standard extractor that tightens while installing

Joe - I'm confused - I've never seen an extractor that tightens as you install it in the hole. Never. Do you have a link to one?

Can't hurt - but probably won't help a bunch. Ideally something that penetrates is what's needed, and testing by ProjectFarm indicates these two aren't a top choice for that use. - ProjectFarm's penetrating liquids test.. unfortunately, I have about 6 cans of PB Blaster (guy at a flea market was closing them out at $1/each..) - a bit more from ProjectFarm. The results surprised me a bit. I've learned before buying things like this - check and see if ProjectFarm has done a test. That includes motor oils and additives. He is quite thorough and his tests are well thought out.