So my engine was running really rough,
and I decided to change,
or check my spark plugs
because I know, once before,
that one of them had fouled.
So I pulled out the plugs,
and put them back in,
because most of them were good.
But then I ran across this one,
which is totally fouled.
And it was even connected between these
between the firing part,
and this would not fire.
So what would happen is
gas would not be burnt,
and come out the tail pipe,
it would smell,
and the engine ran rough.
Not a good thing.
Here's the replacement plug,
you can see how nice and clean that is.
Now the fear I've had,
after many years of
changing spark plugs and whatnot,
I've alway had a fear, when it's hard to get at,
that I'm going to cross thread the spark plug,
and one of them was really hard coming out.
So I'm not sure if that was cross threaded,
or not. First, before I do that,
I'm going to tell you about a spark plug socket.
This is a spark plug socket,
and it's got a rubber piece inside it,
that holds onto the plug,
so it doesn't fall out on the ground.
Make sure you have a good one of these,
if you've got a hard area to get at.
It gives you that extra hand,
that just holds it.
It's just a nice little piece of rubber,
doesn't hold it too tight,
and that's a good spark plug socket.
And you'll need a ratchet,
and an extension,
or universal joint.
Now, the cross threading problem,
because I had one that was tight coming out,
I checked the threads.
They were really gummed up,
and when I tried to put it back in,
I think I cross threaded it a little bit,
which was my biggest fear
of all time, of crossing threading
something in the cylinder head.
So, when I got the plugs,
I decided to ask if there was something
that would fix that thread.
And here it is.
it's a spark plug opening thread chaser.
And what that is, is it's a two,
it fits both sizes of spark plugs,
and it's like a small tap,
for, it's got that ridge piece on it here,
and here, and it cleans the threads,
if they're gummy.
If somebody's oiled them before,
and the oil's burnt in.
And it also,
if it's got a slight bit
of cross threading in there,
it'll clean that too.
So I ran this through once,
I thought it would fit in the spark plug
wrench, but because of the rubber in there,
it wouldn't.
This end would probably fit in,
but this end wouldn't.
And so I had to get a regular
thirteen sixteenths deep socket,
and then it all fit in.
And this also has that
little rubber O-ring on it,
that keeps the, keeps it from falling out
when you're getting into a tight spot.
I would recommend this
because it takes away the nightmares
of basically cross threading your cylinder head.
It was less than twenty bucks,
and it could save, like, a thousand,
probably, if you had to take the head off,
and take it to a machine shop,
and get it re, an insert put in,
or something.
So that's the nightmares of
spark plug changing.
Now that I have a new spark plug in there,
I've marked that cylinder,
because the fouling
will likely happen again,
if it's a weak cylinder.
But it don't run that car very often,
and this will likely do me,
you know, for a year,
or maybe two.
And then I'll have to change it again,
but I'll know which one to go to
right away because I marked it.
When I was a kid, I had a car
that ran so bad, I had to
take these foul plugs out every night.
And clean them, throw them back in.
You could actually clean that,
and put it in.
But I've got more time to play around,
and go to parts shops,
so I bought a new one.
And that's it.
No more nightmares,
thanks to the thread chaser.
And it works like a darn.
Closed Captioning by Kris Brandhagen. brandhagen@gmail.com