Another early S197 Spark plug HATE post

With a good ending.

2005 68k on the motor..Figured while I’m on leave….time to get this done..
TSB followed to perfectly
6 of 8 came out.. second from the rear left and right broke off…. I was prepared for this, mentally and ability wise so when they did, I just kept going.. Wife and son were amazed at my calm… but thanks to Stangnet… it was almost expected.
Both had insulators stuck..in the shield… so that was the first step.. I had ordered the lisle tool and it was to be on hand in the morning. But in the mean time,,, I wanted to see what I could do.. a 3/32 punch is a press fit in the center of the insulator after the tp half and wire comes out.. So welded a piece of 3/8 all thread to that. USed two bushings from a bearng driver set, one above the spacer (spacer is an impact socket) the spacer and one for the head.. Drove the punch/ all thread in to the insulator set up the puller.. and removed the insulator.. Worked on both plugs,, but mush better on the first.. as the abrasive insulator shaved down the punch shaft.. Had to peen it a bit to get it to stick in the second plug.
Next up was to tap some threads in the shield, 3/8-16.. long tap extension is needed to get down there.. Put about 3 threads in the shield, threaded another all thread puller into the shield, bushings, spacer, bushing,, 3/8 nut… few turns f the nut and out popped the shield.
Used the rest of a can of Motorcraft carb cleaner and the shop vac to flush out debris in the cylinders (I recommend this step,, lots of carbon bits and some pieces of insulator was removed… vacuumed out the other 6 cylinders of the remaining carb cleaner..
Installed some fresh Champions.. coils on,, started,,,,,purrs like a kitten.

Thanks to Stang Net and another Mustang site.. This was painless, and over all a simple process. With just a few $ in special custom built tools,, and nothing from the tool truck.

Steel Horse said:

Do you have any pictures of your homemade tools

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First two.

Cheap easy to make, and they worked perfectly. These two tools plus a vacuum and 3/8-16 tap is really all you need.

The Lisle LIS 65600 Truly it's a better solution, faster, and fairly cheap at under $100 if you plan ahead. It was nice to get this done last night; it was great to do it with tools and materials on hand. And it still would have been both the $ to have and use the Lisle tool IMHO.. If you’re otherwise stuck this is an option. If I were to make another tool for dealing with the insulator. It would a spark plug shell as a base, and the tool would push a driver into the broken insulator pushing it down into the shield just like the Lisle tool. After doing this, it’s clear to me you only need 2 or 3 threads in the shield to get enough pull for extraction. If the entire insulator comes out, none of this is a big deal.. Just tap a few threads and remove the shield.

GOLDENPONY said:

Great job. Congrats.
How were you able to get the "stuff" out of the cylinders?

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I had one small bit of insulator I went looking for,, and while vacuuming that out (shop vac with 3/8 hose attachment) found that bit and a lot of carbon from what came off the shield as it was extracted. I also sucked up a bunch of the carbon dissolver used IAW the TSB procedures.. Would that have caused an issue? Probable not.. But after sucking it out in that one cylinder,, i did the same to the others.. And was happy to have done so,, Poured in a bit more cleaner in each cylinder and sucked that out,, Got a lot of carbon bits with it.

To confirm all was well inside the cylinder I used a fiber option scope to have a look around in the two holes that had broken plugs. Not an everyday garage tool,, But it has earned it’s buy in cost many times over the years.