Stuck sparkplugs!

Born2Lose

Active member
I recently bought a 62 mercury comet custom wagon with a 144CID.
A day or so ago i decided i better pull the plugs and see how the plugs were looking.
I put the plug socket on my 3/8" ratchet with 2 extensions to miss all the hoses and what not.
I put it on the #1 cylinder and tried to loosen it..nothing happened..didn't budge!
So i went to my 1/2" ratchet that is a 1/3 longer and still nothing. After that i tried the next cylinder and the same thing for that one.
I sprayed some PB on it and let it sit and still the same.
Now before i stick my giant breaker bar on it is there something i can do to ensure i don't cause a major catastrophy?
I've never felt a plug that tight before..what did they use an impact or something!
It is a steel head that seems to have been redone in the recent past.
 
Born2Lose":1iwupesw said:
I recently bought a 62 mercury comet custom wagon with a 144CID.
A day or so ago i decided i better pull the plugs and see how the plugs were looking.
I put the plug socket on my 3/8" ratchet with 2 extensions to miss all the hoses and what not.
I put it on the #1 cylinder and tried to loosen it..nothing happened..didn't budge!
So i went to my 1/2" ratchet that is a 1/3 longer and still nothing. After that i tried the next cylinder and the same thing for that one.
I sprayed some PB on it and let it sit and still the same.
Now before i stick my giant breaker bar on it is there something i can do to ensure i don't cause a major catastrophy?
I've never felt a plug that tight before..what did they use an impact or something!
It is a steel head that seems to have been redone in the recent past.

Run the engine until it is warm, and try again.
 
And use as few extensions as possible; try to get the handle as close to the plugs as you can. You'll have better leverage and control.
 
Yeah, and wear work gloves and throw the wrench at something CHEAP when you shear the corners off the plug with the socket.
 
Use an impact gun. The hammering effect will hopefully loosen the plugs.

Make sure you use a decent socket to prevent rounding the plug hex.

After you get the plugs out run a 18mm tap chasing the threads.

Install new plugs with some anti-seize on the threads.
 
I'd spray them with Pb blaster and run the motor 3 or 4 times at least before I tried to pull them out again. Once you break one off or round off the corners you'll have to pull the head so I wouldn't rush things to much.
 
You have one last shot before pulling the head.
Let the pb blaster soak in overnight, restart the engine & run it to operating temperature.
Then get your air gun out along with a can or two of freon.
Blow the sub freezing freon on the base of the spark plugs one at a time & then hit that one with the air gun.
The freon will contract the hot plug & that might be enough to break them loose.
I have used this before on lifters stuck in the lifter bores and would not budge, the freon shrunk them enough to allow removal.
Try it you have nothing to loose. Bill
 
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