Mighty Shilling

taking it out today, it seemed like it was difficult, then easy, then difficult, then easy, ya know... putting it in, it's not wanting to click the torque wrench. got it tight, but I dunno... I'm afraid.

if it is stripped/cross threaded, is that a head-off repair? how easy is it to fix?

xsboost90

you may be able to do it in the car but it would be scarey. Also no way to keep all of the aluminum out of the tops of the piston so you could score the bore up pretty good. Even just crossthreading it may have dropped some junk down in there.

Darwantae951

Turbo or 924?

-Darwin

Mighty Shilling

boo!!!! I made sure it went in straight this time... but it didn't feel good. I'm gonna try giving it a go. see how it feels on the road. if it shoots the plug through the hood, I know we got a problem...

Mighty Shilling

small hint... we're in the turbo forum

Mighty Shilling

Sorry Darwin, I could see that may have been rude...

Anyway, I pulled it again, it came out like normal, and I looked down the spark plug hole and didn't see any f*cked up threads, it looked pretty good actually... I'm gonna put the plug back in, and check it out. anyway, I also got a new battery for her. the last one was putting out 9 volts under load.

Mighty Shilling

OH THANK GOD! FALSE ALARM! I realized as I pulled it back out that it was squeaking... so I put on some anti-sieze and it went in, and torqued smoothly, tightly, and without issue. I'm happy again!

Darwantae951

I freaked out last night when I rounded off the top bolt to the oil filter housing...I know how you feel...

-Darwin

DAR951

Couple things for "next time"...

1) Check threads on new plugs... Amazing number come with poorly cut threads.

2) I've used one of these, from KD Tools, with good results... beats the heck out of pulling the head (look at page 4)...

http://www.kd-tools.com/PDF/KDSuppCat03.pdf

MM951

If your worried, get a spark plug thread chaser and blow out the cylinder with compressed air. Has saved me more then once

mwc951

That KD tool looks pretty slick.

What size does the 944/951 require??
14mm?

bscpanther

As long as you always start a thread with your hand you will never have a problem.

FRporscheman

My friend (with a 968) had spark plug hole #4 strip out. It actually did blow the spark plug into the hood.

We taped a vinyl hose to the tip of a shop vac, and spent a few minutes trying to clean out any possible debris in the cylinder. Then we disconnected injector and plug wire #4, and left spark plug hole #4 open, and he drove on 3 cylinders and a loud popping noise from #4. He drove it to a shop and they helicoiled it.

A 968 on 3 cylinders still has more displacement than a 924!

I'm glad yours was a false alarm.

Mighty Shilling

Oh man, it was hilarious. one of my good friends bought a 944 from a dealership a while back. it obviously needed a good tuning. Anyway, as he was taking it to my house so we could tune it up, the #4 spark plug broke. the electrode part,and the part that threads into the head separated, and it shot the plug god knows where. it's like the spark plug just vanished... the car sounded like an angry lawn power.

Spidey944

I can also recomend using a tread chaser to clean your existing threads, and to keep the debris from falling onto your piston, just pack some grease onto your thread chaser. Any debris gets caught in the grease. Works fantasticly.