Heli-coil or not?

Here's hoping that someone will come up with a solution to get your plug out; but if not then I used to use some steel inserts that worked the same as heli-coils in that you threaded the head a larger size & threaded in the insert, then screwed in the plug. I liked them better than heli-coils 'cause they were one-peice (solid) inserts. I guess they're still available... HTH, ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"

Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!

Do everything you can to try and save the threads. The helicoil fix is nowhere near perfect, nor does it deserve the high praise it sometimes seems to get. It definitely works, but not indefinitely. You can rely on it until you have time to repair the damn thing properly. (Weld, re-thread to original size). Yes it will come out.

jan

The term heli-coil comes from the company name thatmakes them. Heli-Coil. They make the "commonly known" spiral helicoil inserts, AS WELL as solid steel spark plug inserts, which are also heli-coil inserts. It's a brand name.

Jan

The solid inserts are Time-Serts made by the Time Fastener Company. Another product is Keensert, but Time-Serts work better than either Helicoil or Keensert for sparkplug hole repair, IMO.

Thanks ! A lot of useful info and food for thought. I'm on for trying to save the threads first. Here's hoping. Thanks again, Gord

Opinions will vary, but if you can't save the original threads I much prefer Heli-Coils to the solid inserts for repairs. Both take some skill and care to install correctly, but a correctly installed Heli-Coil will generally give a longer and more satisfactory service life than the solid inserts, mainly because the solid inserts tend to come out with every future spark plug removal, so they eventually become loose in the heads and need to be replaced.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

-----------------------------------------------

Hi.Try spraying some PB Blaster around the plug threads,warm up the engine(I assume it runs) try to remove the plug,if not ,repeat.Be sure of the simple act of turning the correct way(please don't take offence >Apparently this is a common problem? Is the best solution to work away at

Ok. PB Blaster, or any WD40 type of lubricant/loosener? The engine runs great, considering that one plug likely hasn't been replaced in lord knows how long. And, no offence taken, re: turning right way -- if my computer doesn't work, first thing I check is that it's plugged in !! Thanks again for the advice ! Gord

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 03:40:59 GMT, "athome" scribbled this interesting note:

Speaking of turning things the correct direction...

My Dad has a mid sixties White-Oliver combination back-hoe/front-end loader. This thing weighs in somewhere around twelve-thousand pounds. It sits on a tilt trailer. This whole contraption has been sitting idle in a field for a number of years now. Recently we needed to put a new trailer tire on the left hand side of the trailer. We worked at taking off the lug nuts (about an inch and three-eighths sized nut!) for a while one day and had no success, so we decided to try again the next day. We took cheater bars and a 3/4" break-over bar. I was straining as hard as I could on the end of a five or six foot long thick walled galvanized pipe. The two of us tried it. None of the nuts would budge, but the break-over bar broke! So we got a socket of the variety that truck tire changing facilities use...you know, the impact variety that is really heavy duty. Same thing, none of the nuts would break loose. So my Dad inspected things closely. Only then did he remember this particular trailer is set up like older Chrysler products. The threads on the lugs on that side are backwards!

Since we did a fine job using penetrating oils, heat, and leverage to tighten up all the nuts on that wheel, they came loose pretty easily!:~)

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Kroil.