Oh man, I've done something real bad..

On this hot afternoon i thought it would be good to replace my spark plugs. On the last plug, I'm tightening it down and I figure my torque wrench is about to tell me that's enough. I give it one last 1/4 turn in hope it does and the spark plug breaks into two, leaving the threaded part into my engine block. Holy E36 M3.. what the hell do I do?!

How stuck is the threaded part? The answer could be anything from "stick a big screwdriver down there and turn left" to "take the head off" depending on what broke, whether the threads really deformed and grabbed it, etc.

Is it in such a position that you can get left hand drill bits/screw extractors to it?

Ugh...

First of all, I assume there's nothing sticking out that you could grab with a pair of pliers (or locking pliers) to remove it?

How "accessible" is that last plug? Do you have a die grinder or a dremel? Could you dremel a slot in it and use a big screwdriver to back it out?

A drill bit and an EZOut would be my next choice.

All of them not easy if it's the plug buried under the firewall.....

-Rob

What does the exposed part look like? Shouldn't have a lot of torque on it so hopefully easy to get out.

It's like way in there. I can put my finger in a bit before i even feel it. Man.. :(

I've had good luck jbwelding a bolt to something like that. But make sure it only gets on the plug.

What car was this on?

I'm trying to think back but I'm pretty sure with all the spark plugs I've changed over the years, that I have never used a torque wrench on any of them.

There's a couple videos on You Tube where people have used a large size easy out to remove a broken off spark plug. Don't forget to move the piston to bottom dead center before starting any removal. Good luck!

The good news is, if all else fails it should still run well enough to drive it off a cliff.

Use a camera (phone) to snap a pic, look at screen of the pic, and see how much is left to grab onto (see advice by others above) and what tool will be best for extraction.

Step 1 : Take a deep breath and give yourself some time to stop freaking out about it and think logically.

Good?

OK, now take any of the advice listed above

In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

Lol. That's so GRM. Very helpful in the first post only to come back and say you're berkeleyed in a polite manner.

:( ok, im gonna chill a second. Then probably just call my local shop as I'm afraid to have something fall farther down.

Any shop with experience replacing the 2 piece plugs in a Ford Triton should be good at getting out scraps of plug from most anything.

What kind of car is it?

KyAllroad wrote: Any shop with experience replacing the 2 piece plugs in a Ford Triton should be good at getting out scraps of plug from most anything. What kind of car is it?

It's a volvo 240 wagon. It's the rear plug which suck because there's no much room back there!

After you chill, go crank the engine for a few moments. Not to start it, but to see if it will blow the ceramic center out. Good chance the compression will do this. Not a problem if the engine does start by the way.

Hopefully the center will blow out. Then you can far more easily run a large (frequently #5) ez-out down the center of the remains and just twist it out.

The web is full of videos and web pages about doing this.

First off, about the only times I've ever really screwed something up was when I was using a torque wrench.

Next: What broke off? The part that you put the socket on separated from the rest of the bolt like thing leaving the threads part in the hole? Or is something else going on? Yeah, you need to see exactly what is going on and some pics would be helpful.

Is it an F-150? There are lots of cases of the spark plugs in those breaking.

Coldsnap wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: Any shop with experience replacing the 2 piece plugs in a Ford Triton should be good at getting out scraps of plug from most anything. What kind of car is it?

It's a volvo 240 wagon. It's the rear plug which suck because there's no much room back there!

Is this your only mode of transport?

If not, hang tight, research the 'web and see if some Volvo experts can chime in.

Is there anything else that can be unbolted to gain more access back there (like the heater/ air conditioning box)?

Oh, and the other times I've really screwed something up was when I was using an Easy-Out, which has to be massively misnamed.

But FT's suggestion sounds like a good one to me.

Indy-Guy wrote:

Coldsnap wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: Any shop with experience replacing the 2 piece plugs in a Ford Triton should be good at getting out scraps of plug from most anything. What kind of car is it?

It's a volvo 240 wagon. It's the rear plug which suck because there's no much room back there!

Is this your only mode of transport? If not, hang tight, research the 'web and see if some Volvo experts can chime in. Is there anything else that can be unbolted to gain more access back there (like the heater/ air conditioning box)?

It can sit luckily. I bought this car to learn how to wrench as I don't really need a reliable car at the momement.

Ok, pictures coming.

Pictures. Ugh really defeated. I was doing pretty good at wrenching on this thing up until now.

Relax, man. You've got the best guys on teh interwebs helping you. You're not stranded. You're not stuck without a ride to work. This is a learning project. Relax.

Is the center of the plug gone already or is that an illusion? Looks to me like a properly sized left hand drill/easy out/ whatever is the way to go on this one. Or try the JB weld thing if you don't have/want to buy any of those.

Looks to me like the ceramic is already out of the center. EZ out should get the job done fairly easily. Make sure you have all of the ceramic and electrode before you turn the engine over.