Ka Broken plug

In message , TMC writes

The best method is prevention rather than cure. This is a common problem on the Ka/Fiesta engine. On ours, I tend to smear a little copper grease on the threads and I remove and refit them every 10k miles to stop them getting seized.

I appreciate that this advice is not great if you have just bought the car and someone else has neglected it. If you thought they may be tight you could put a little Plus Gas (penetrating oil) in the plug wells and allow to soak for a couple of hours.

Till it shears and then back a quarter turn is the usual engineering method.

;)

Usually they are long life plugs if I remember correctly, and they go thin & rusty just above the taper/thread bit so they shear clean off. When it happens at work we either use a spiral or snap on twisted tapered square bar remover and maybe oxy/acetylene. Haven't had to remove a head yet. Had a few that were towed in that had broken on the road.

-- Jon

A mechanic warned my mum about this and said it's best to replace them after 2 years (not 3). They have a tendancy go rusty in the KA's because the wholes are deep.

What the f*ck are you on about? They tend to get stuck in the head because numpties overtighten them and don't put any copper grease on the threads. It's a pretty well known problem with the Ka, and any mechanic worth his salt will do the job properly instead of give you some bullshit to try and sell you plugs more often.