Is KY Jelly's Fire and Ice good enough? Sounds a bit kinky...

On moar srs : thanks, time for Christmas to come early...

 

You sir, are into some freaky shit.

 

Where is the diabolically evil laughter smiley?
/threadjack ... for now.

 

I wander into a thread.

Thread goes offtopic.

 

ROFL!! Honestly, I did take the "some form of penetrating lube, a torch, and patience" down to the gutter myself...I just kept mum

I need to make sure I have that "security" torx since I will be redoing the headlights within a day or two.

 

Now that that's cleared up...

Unrelated to spark-plugs (related by way of proximity to engine bay):

The bumper clip on the driver side where the nut/bolt threads on in front of the wheel is torn in a way that the bumper will just slip off of the nut/metal washer when driving over a speed bump. Am I screwed with no option but to buy a new bumper cover, or can I do something to fix it?

I promise I'll behave...for a little while

 

I haven't looked down there yet, but could you get a larger washer or something to help hold it down?

 

Is it the plastic of the bumper that is torn?

 

I'll look down in my wheel well to see where mine bolts on, but if you have a picture of the tear, that'd help with brainstorming possible fixes.

Unfortunately, I don't have internet at home (my fortress of solitude) nor do I have a phone that will go online. It sucks, but that would just be more bills to pay.

If I come up with a brilliant idea, I'll divulge tomorrow!

 

Not my bumper but the red line is where it is torn. The tear is in the exact place/direction as the red line on the bumper. I also noticed that the two clips to the left of it have nowhere to clip on to, it is just hard metal on the fender which explains the reason that there was a gap there at the dealership...

(Thanks for the unknowingly donated pic e30cabrio )

 

Mine is torn as well, but the bolts in the wheel well at least hold it in place.

 

mine is torn on both sides, i just zip-tied it on the side it wasn't torn and it hasn't popped out on me since. zip ties FTMFW!

 

You sir....are a genius!

 

Damn...I was gonna say that, 'cause I've used black zipties where a splash guard was hanging loose underneath...

Since it's a small tear, perhaps some epoxy/silicone would fix it? I don't know...

I just bought a set of "tamper-proof" Torx bits. There was a smaller set of 7 or 8 by some company, but it cost $21!!! F that! I guess Mr. Lisle needs to support his crack habit.

 

Did you try the zip-tie?

I was planning on doing my spark plugs when I did the headlights but mounting the ballasts turned into a whole season of MacGyver episodes...as evidenced by the picture LOL!

I found I'm missing a "PCT" underneath as well..

 

Taking the main engine cover off wont expose the valves/inner workings of the engine or require me to purchase gaskets will it? I just want to make sure that I am prepared to be carless for a while if necessary...

Also the Ignition coil packs are 6mm hex, I got a 3/8's ratchet and a bunch of other tools including a 7 piece 3/8's socket set with hex heads. I can finally do the friggin plugs!!!

 

Not yet, I will do it after I am done with the spark plugs. I want to take off the bumper completely and reattach it because I managed to tear it half off again (damn public parking lots) which means that it needs a good old re-positioning prior to strapping it down.

I think I will take a few pics (if I can remember) to show you how screwed up my bumper is. There was something like 3 different bolts/screws and one type of clips holding it on. The wheel wells had different methods of holding the bumper on, the passenger side had a screw while the driver side had a sandwich of [bolt]washer[bumper]washer[nut]. It also looks like half the clips on the driver side are torn and to top it all off, I managed to have the plastic shock absorber that sits between the frame and the bumper beam fall out when I pulled the bumper off the first time. At least I saw that there was a plastic piece lying around and picked it up after the incident...

I've since adopted a rule of 'if you're fat, wait for me to back out of the spot before you get in' since both instances of the bumper being pulled off happened due to overweight passengers Now consider the fact that I am at stock ride height...

 

No, youre thinking of the valve covers. The engine cover is a big, useless chunk of plastic.

 

When I took my bumper off, that Styrofoam piece feel off too, but the two black plastic mounts stayed on...barely!

I'm sorry, but the fat rule is funny! Do you have a lot of plus-sized friends?

That reminds me of this horrible dream I had about my first car and a HUGE lady:
I parked in the Wally World parking lot (which is bad to begin with 'cause I loathe that store). I started walking to the store, when I saw this blue Geo Metro park next to my car with only a few inches in between. Then I saw this massive woman open the door, and all I could think was, "OH GOD.....NOOOO!" When she got out, her car violently sprung back due to the loss of weight on the driver's side and repeatedly smashed the driver's side of my car!!

So, yes, I'd love to see exactly what's going on/missing with your bumper!

 

Better under hood temps if permanently removed?

1) I only have three or four double-plus large friends. I got pissed off the second time I had to remove all the bumper crap and reattach.

2) . My Spanish teacher parked her Sunfire beside my CL and door-dinged the crap out of the passenger side...

3) Many a pics are coming. I removed the driver-side bolt and I am NOT putting that back for pics.

I might make a picturefull (quiet, its early and I only had 6 hours of sleep) step by step of how to fail at changing spark plugs.

 

It could reduce under hood temps. I junked mine about 3 years ago. I also removed the hood insulation, and did all the Mugen cooling mods.

 

OOOoooo....I HATE people that leave door dings....If I happen to have a small clearance to get out, I'll slither out the car with my hand on my door where it would hit an object!

I know you'll get those spark plugs changed sir!!

 

Yep, I have memory 2 seat set to go all the way back for tight squeeze situations.

Currently have 3 front plugs changed and am removing the strut bar. only had one thing fall into the abyss of the engine (landed on garage floor) and the hood piston things only failed twice.

lots of pics tho. I will make a seperate thread with a detailed DIY.

 

LOL!! Make it uncomfortable for whoever's in the back seat behind you...they'll never ride with you again!

My hood struts died a while back, so I have a stick that works perfectly!

I can't wait for your DIY! Although, it's so HOT down here in Hell's armpit that I don't know when I'll do my sparkies!

I knew you could do it!!

 

Well, 5/6 done but I need someones help with a "sticky situation".

The middle spark plug on the rear of the engine is seized like no tomorrow. I've tried and my step dad tried to force the bugger out too. 3 different ratchets were used to no avail... we're looking for a breaker bar but I doubt I can fit that in there.

Anyone have any tips on removing a cemented spark-plug without stripping the spark plug well or destroying this engine?

Also Catfisha, I'm sorry, I cant deliver on the bumper pics, fixed er up with two sets of zip ties (strongest part of the bumper now ) but I was so pissed by the 5th spark plug that I forgot to pics.

 

It's ok....do you have a swivel joint attachment that you could use to get the end of the ratchet in a space where you could use a breaker bar?

 

I do have a swivel joint that came with my ratchet set...

just got handed a breaker bar... lets see how this goes...

 

Is it hot up there Dspr_02? You could cool down that plug so the metal shrinks a nanometer and maybe that would help...? Hell if I know....

 

Oh YAY!!!

 

It's like 16*C (~61F) up here and the car has been sitting in a cold garage since about 2:30PM PST yesterday... that block is damn near frozen lol.

Would it be a bad idea to put the spark plug socket in on top of the plug with the extension and tap on it with a rubber coated socket? These plugs have been rusty-galore coming out.

 

Hmmmm....Do you have a big box wrench that'll fit around the ratchet handle? It's just another version of a breaker bar though....

 

Perhaps that's one thing the "penetrating lube" was for, sir! I was gonna say something tawdry, but I won't....LOL

 

Two last ideas then I soak it in WD40 overnight...

1) I have been handed a very hefty breaker bar with a bit to put around the spark plug socket (I PRAY TO GOD IT WILL FIT)

2) Take it on 5 new plugs and 1 old to my mechanic, have him impact wrench it off and put in the last plug then do an oil change (car needs oil change and I'm doing plugs but I'm too much of a baby to play with oil)

 

I'm voting for option 2. It would SUCK if you accidentally broke the plug! Let your mechanic break it if it's gonna break!

And before you go, just try it again tomorrow one last time.

You don't like motor oil? I guess I'm weird 'cause I like the smell of dirty oil.

I wish it was 61 F down here...

 

Im going to WD40 it right now, leave it for a few hours, try again.

If all else fails, I will just have the mechanic do it... I hope I can talk him into only a $10 charge on top of the oil change since almost all of the work is done.

And it's not that I don't like oil, it's just that I am hella lazy

 

Sprayed er good (with KY Jelly, maybe they'll play nice now), cleaned up the point where the plug head meets the ignition coil with a paper towel in the spark plug socket. It shouldn't smoke too bad if I have to start it up tomorrow and drive to the mechanic...

I have all the pics I need to make a DIY so I am off to it..

 

LMAO!!! Ok!

 

Meanwhile in another Google Chrome window... Videos upload and a thread awaits its final link... the DIY should be up within the next 10 min...

AAAAAAAAAAAND ITS UP

 

The plugs are easy to change and I did mine with a craftsman tool set that I use on my scooter plus an extension and an elbow.

ALL Iridium plugs are pre-gapped for their specific application, regapping is NOT recommended as you will damage the point on the plug.

Front plugs are way easy, the back ones are kind of a PITA as you have to remove the MIRC to facilitate access to the rear cylinders.

I also used anti seize designed for spark plugs because after 8 years and 90K miles they were not really easy to remove.

I did not unplug my coil packs i just unbolted them and laid them aside as I did each plug one by one.

Before changing plugs I did my seafoam treatment using the automatic transmission version of the product to clean out the intake and whatnot.

After changing plugs, car ran smoother and got slightly better gas milage. Old plugs were normal for engine that is in excellent shape.

 

Did you notice your RPM's drop? Mine dropped by about 500 for city and highway...