Spark Plug Nightmare

[bdagle]

A few weeks ago I bought a very clean used 2001 Ranger 2.3 with low mileage. The truck had a little miss when cruising at a steady speed, so I decided that changing the spark plugs might be a good idea. When I pulled that first plug, I found that indeed this was a good idea. Because someone had installed some cheap no brand plugs, and they weren't in very good condition. On the second plug, the boot refused to break loose from the plug. No amount of twisting would beak the rubber loose from the porcelain on the plug. I finally twisted the top part of the boot off, leaving the boot extension still firmly attached to the plug way down in the plug hole. Since the extension is flared at the end a plug wrench will not fit past it. More pulling a tugging on this extension only succeeded in braking the plug and scattering shards of porcelain all around the base of the plug. After much tweezering and the use of a screwdriver with a gob of grease on the end, I finally got all the shards of porcelain and pieces of rubber cleaned up and was able to remove the plug. Changing the other plugs was uneventful. I strongly suggest that when you change the plugs in your 2.3 that you use lots of dielectric grease so this doesn't happen to you. Brendan

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

thanks!!! great tip