Shade Tree Victory: Seized Plug Pulled After 7-Day Ordeal

A little more than a week ago, I started what I thought would be simple spark plug and cables job on my 19-year-old pickup. Regrettably, two of four plugs seized.

Number four soaked overnight in some PB Blaster, and — with some persuasion — came free. Number one plug, however, required daily ministrations of PB Blaster, and gentle rocking, but remained stubbornly in place.

I went ahead and replaced three plugs, cables, air filter, and threw in a valve-cover gasket job for good measure. I’ve been driving it on my 30-minute commute daily.

A counter guy at Advanced Auto, said he had worked in a shop and they used to soak seized plugs in transmission fluid. Just fill the tube halfway and let it soak overnight.  Late Saturday night, without a funnel, I made a sloppy mess of the pour, anointing the valve cover, and various other hot parts with the burgundy fluid as my motor smoked in protest.

Sunday morning I wicked the fluid from the tube with a paper towel, but the seized plug was more recalcitrant than ever. Couldn’t even rock her.

On the way to church this morning, and at the end of myself, I thought I could use some leverage…something to go beyond my own paltry strength.

After a reconstitutional nap this afternoon, I slipped the end of my crescent wrench over the socket wrench handle, and started making progress. I didn’t even have to rock it any more. It spun — timidly at first, then exuberantly.

As you can see from the photo, the threads near the plug tip are stripped. The way the new plug felt going in, so are the threads on the truck itself. I lubed up the plug threads with anti-seize paste, and used a bit more force than I think wise to get the plug far enough in, but certainly not to spec.

Turning the engine produced a magnificent ivory bloom from the stern that blessed the neighborhood with a rich, manly, aroma. Shake-down cruise around the block proceeded without incident, and that’s that.

Ready for another 260,000 miles or so.