JTHING

Yikes: fired up my 07 Rub to a helluva noise. Looked under the hood to find a plug laying on the side. Threads in the head are shot. I spoke to the local dealer who said that they have found that thread repair does NOT work and I need a new head. I plan to try a helicoil fix without removing the head. I would try to vacuum and blow out any chips. Any tips or comments? Thanks

Mark Doiron

If it's my nickel that's what I'd do, though I might pull the head if I wasn't in a real hurry. Just make sure you get the "Sav-a-Thread Spark Plug Port Repair Kit" by HeilCoil. It has a different kind of insert than the springs that the other sets come with. The kit comes with the tools you need to tap the hole and insert the special insert ...

http://www.amazon.com/Helicoil-5334-.../dp/B0002SRF4O

^^^That is an example; I don't know if that's the correct size or not for any particular engine. It's one that I received in place of a different type of kit a while back, and the vendor told me to just keep it.

jadmt

Pull the head and take it to a machine shop that specializes in head repair.

5150cliff

Mark has the lowest cost repair solution but if you're not mechanically inclined then I may go with taking in the head for repair. If you somehow bung up the install of the heli-coil, then you may need to have the spark plug hole re-welded and re-drilled and tapped to fix it. If you took the head to a reputable repair place, then, all is well. It's a gamble to fix things yourself WITHOUT skills to match.

Chadc880

Did the same thing in a Honda prelude years ago. I used compressed air and vacuum afterwards and cycled the engine without the plug

Ran perfect

usafjonlong

Look into something called a time-sert. It's exactly like a helicoil but better. It's more of a sleeve with threads on the inside than just the threads itself. I've used it multiple times on my 4.6 ford with aluminum heads. I tried a helicoil before and since the plug took the threads with it I still got leaks from the combustion chamber. But the time sert seals it up nice

JTHING

I followed the tips. Heavily greasing the tap trapped all the chips, thanks! I vacuumed and cleaned and plug seated well.
Now the engine runs rough.
When the plug popped I quickly turned the engine off so it ran for only a few seconds without the plug.
Thanks for your help.

Mr.T

Presuming it's a new plug, the plug wire may have been damaged in the blowout.