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head coolant plug stuck and f@$^&d

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Old 11-05-2007, 09:00 PM
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Question head coolant plug stuck and f@$^&d

I screwed the pooch trying to get my head coolant plug out (i used a T50 before the correct 8mm allen), and now the thing inst moving . not much room to work with, ive tried crowbars on my allen wrench, vice grips, and a bunch of curse words. if there are any words of wisdom, please send one my way. Trying to install a coolant sensor for a freakin gauge,,a simple lil guage,,,,ugh.
Old 11-05-2007, 09:09 PM
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You talking about the coolant temp sensor in the drivers side head? The brass plug that screws in?


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Old 11-05-2007, 09:13 PM
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kinda,,but on the passengers side (same thing your talkin, just opposite head) there is a plug that goes in the hole (drivers side houses our factory water temp sensor),,i tore the **** out it,,the 8mm just spins in it now,,,no room for drilling,,,im lost.
Old 11-05-2007, 09:26 PM
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http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...tripped+remove



eh,,,,???
Old 11-05-2007, 09:43 PM
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why were you taking that out?
Old 11-05-2007, 09:48 PM
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installing a autometer water temp guage. The plug comes out, the sensor goes in.....well thats how its supposed to work anyway, lol. those extractors that are in the link i added above,,,would those work on a "round" bolt head?
Old 11-05-2007, 10:07 PM
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I was gonna suggest those.

They're meant to work on "rounded" off bolts, so I assume it would be perfect for you. Just gotta pick the one size that just barely won't fit on, tap it on, and crank that motha.

Definitely a good set to have, regardless.




Also, throw a **** ton of PB blaster on it to aid
Old 11-06-2007, 01:36 AM
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warm it up, don't get it red hot, but get the section of the cylinder head nice and hot.

Even a propane torch could do this but takes longer.

heat the cylinder head, NOT what you are trying to remove.
Old 11-06-2007, 08:51 AM
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Thanx for the suggestions everyone,,,,

Hopefully, i will be able to get the extractors on the head of the plug (its round already,,lil smaller than a dime),,,i wont be able to "tap" the extractor on per se, as there is just no room to swing anything up there,,,if anything i can try to wedge it on with a bar, etc. If this dosnt work, i may have to drop my cats and Y just to get ahold of the damn thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sux, as this was supposed to be a lil fun project to pass some time.

No torch in my garage, although, i know father in law has one. that may be an option i have to go to. Im hitting up Sears this afternoon for the extractors,,,,man i hope my oil temp sender dosnt go this bad.
Old 11-06-2007, 01:10 PM
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Does anyone know the outside diameter of this plug,,so i can try to buy the extractor that will fit???,,looks 3/8-ish but not sure, i just know its round, no 6 point action,,just round with the 8mm allen inside,,i need the outside....anyone that can get that info would save me about a 1/2 tank of gas.
Old 11-06-2007, 01:39 PM
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I have one somewhere on the work bench at home.. if you don't get the answer by the time I get home.. I will let you know .. but it might be too late in the day for you...

If this doesn't .. how about grinding two sides flat and get a wrench on it...?

I would say that taking your ex manifold, spark plug and cat off to get it out of the way, would be time well spent with the amount of space you have.. and the fustration that they would cause by being in the way..

other last options.. drill a access hole in the firewall/tran tunnel... you can always get a rubber plug for it..

Good luck
Old 11-06-2007, 01:59 PM
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Thank you,,,

any other suggestions,,,feel free to chime in
Old 11-06-2007, 09:57 PM
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it is 5/8" or about 17mm in dia...
Old 11-07-2007, 09:08 AM
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Thank you,,,i will be going back to Sears for the correct extractors tonight,,i bought some yesterday, but all are too small. I used playdoh to get a tracing and measured,,came up with 5/8's too. Also noticed my hex didint look bad, so i retried my allen,,,i could hang from it...for a bit before it felt as it was starting to slip (im suing a 8mm allen wrench here, which is probably my problem)

im picking up a hex socket tonight too,,,will try a breakaer bar,,hopefully i will be returning more extractors tommorrow,,but we'll see how bad i can tear things up with the breaker bar before that happens.

The extractors (called bolt out at Sears) should work if i jimmy it up some more,,the plug sticks out roughly 1/4 inch and is 5/8 wide, with room all around for the socket extracter to fit.

I will post up once i get coolant in my eye
Old 11-13-2007, 08:07 AM
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Default Success!!! (finally)

Dropped the Y-pipe,,once that and the cats were out of the way,,i had plenty of room to use my new bolt extractors,,Craftsman, number 9 (not the socket kind but the low profile wrench kind) and a 1 inch offset boxend wrench made light work of the the fubared plug. I was able to spin the plug with the correct 8mm hex head once it was broke loose. I then used a 2277, and 2259 combo from Auto meter for the temp sensor.

The oil sender gave me a problem with the second lil nut that holds the sender spring, and the top lil nut that holds the sender wire to the sender would not let loose of each other once i had the plumbing T piece on the car....they would just spin together,,and seemed to never stop spinning. My oil temp guage was powering up, lighted, but the needle would not move past the 140 mark,,,the bottom of the gauge (What is the oil temp at idle anyway?) So, the car went back up and instead of droppping the Y (Y-pipe is in the way of one of the nutz that hold the sedning T piece to the block),,i just got one nut out, loosened the other enough that i could spin the unit facing down so i didnt have to fight the limited space. Replaced the sender unit with the one that originaly came with my water temp and now its good as new!! I actually cracked the first sender due to that second nut kept spinning,,putting pressure on the shell with the spring,,,ouch.
Old 12-11-2007, 11:44 AM
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all that for this...








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