Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: holey head on 21 August 2007, 18:56:26

Title: car thrown a plug <helicoiling needed>
Post by: holey head on 21 August 2007, 18:56:26

hi all

just another thing wrong with the car, was driving down the road when all of a sudden hear a blowing noise and loss of power, so i pull over and check underneath nothing so i pop the bonnet and low and behold the car has thrown a spark plug. try putting it bk in and it won't go.

so i phone brakedown and they come out and mention "heli-coil" but then need an engineer. or a new head!!!!!

Does anybody know a cheap engineer in leeds area that could do it??? or have any suggestions on what i could do!!!

cheers steve <the owner of a pain in the ARSE omega>

Title: Re: car thrown a plug
Post by: Martin_1962 on 21 August 2007, 19:07:42

Yes Helicoiling

Paul M had to do one of his, I think it was Mark DTMs kit he used

Someone will be along in a minute with more help

Title: Re: car thrown a plug <helicoiling needed>
Post by: Paul M on 22 August 2007, 12:10:05

Yep, I had this problem with my V6. Pain in the ass to do, but I suspect it should be much easier on a 4-pot as access is much better, plus you can take the cam cover off in about a tenth of the time.

If you have some basic mechanical knowledge you should be able to do it yourself. The kit comes with a tap that is slightly over-sized compared to the original thread, you smear this with grease to catch the filings as it cuts the new thread. Keep taking it out after every few turns to clean the filings and apply new grease. Once the new thread has been tapped, you screw in the helicoil, which has an outer diameter of the newly cut thread, and an inner diameter of the original thread. Once it's in, there's a little tang at the end you have to break off (it's only there to give something to turn when screwing the heli-coil in) and you have to take care to ensure this doesn't fall into the cylinder. Then it's just a case of re-fitting the plug to the correct torque -- it should be at least as strong as the original thread, the heli-coil manufacturers claim it's actually stronger.

I'd recommend changing all your plugs and the cam cover gaskets while you're there, as they won't add much time or effort to the job. All in it shouldn't be too bad on a 4-pot.

Title: Re: car thrown a plug <helicoiling needed>
Post by: Paul M on 22 August 2007, 12:11:27

Oh I should add, that was about 4 or 5 months ago now and it's been running fine ever since.