Broken spark plug thread

HIi guys!!! I own a honda vfr 400 nc24 1987 just bought it so was riding & noticed the engine temp was off the chart so got home & noticed the coolant had boiled away. I checked the thermostat & it was broken so I changed everything as in the oil, flushed the coolant system out & refilled it then went to change the plugs when the one at the front snapped its thread in the cylinder head. Is there an easy way to get this tread out or do I have to remove half the front engine as in the front cylinder head so as to get in to the back of the spark plug holder???? PLEASE HELP ME AS THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM AND A VERY HARD JOB FOR AN UNSKILLED NOVICE XXX

[rictus01]

Not being funny but why the hell did a self proclaimed "UNSKILLED NOVICE" buy a 23 year old bike ?

It's very unsual that a spark plug would break on the thread part, it's normally the ceramic bit, which should leave the nut shaped bit intact so a normal plug spanner should remove it, however if this isn't the case, then it very much depends on the access you have, I'd probably bite the bullet and remove the head to be save, the bike sounds like it's not had the greatest care in the world and I'd want to make sure everything topend was OK as well whilst I was there.

Cheers Mark.

Sounds very similar to the brake brlled nipple i just replaced in a scale up.

I'd be tempted to take the head off and fix it on a bench but taking the head off, and more importantly putting the head back on for an unskilled novice is a big job.

It bay be tempting to use and Easy Out stud extractor but if this snaps (90% do!) it'll make the whole job even harder.

The way to get it out is to drill the plug out so that only the slightest bit remains in the head thread and then to pick the pieces out. This means you have to drill very accurately, probably using a pedestal drill and a bit that is just the right size.

And it can't be done on the bike as the swarf from the drilling will go into the engine.

If this doesn't work then it can lead to a whole lot of work and if a garage is doing it, a massive labour bill from trying to save the head.

Or of course you could just buy a new / second hand head and have a shop replace it, which would cost less.

If it's going to take them more than a couple of hours to get the plug out then the second hand head is the way to go. It took me about 6 hours to get the brake nipple out. thats about £240 labour for a shop and you should be able to get a head cheaper than that.

Even cheaper again is to buy a second hand engine on ebay and replace the lot.

C

Get the head off and take it to someone who can sort it out for you.

Now, when replacing, you will find you need new head gaskets. You will spend a lifetime trying to get NC24 ones - dont bother.

NC30 head gaskets fit exactly, with some small tabs hanging out, but these are no problems. So when you need to get a new head gasket, order VFR400R NC30 ones from wemoto or similar.

Please please please don;t try and bodge it...you've admitted you are not skilled, so get the head off or even get the bike if you can to a professional motor vehicle technician, who has the knowledge, the skill and the correct tools to put this right

On the other hand, if you are willing to pay my dad a little bit of money, he might be able to get his other NC24 engine working for you but he'd have to investigate exactly what is wrong with it first

Originally Posted by rictus01

Not being funny but why the hell did a self proclaimed "UNSKILLED NOVICE" buy a 23 year old bike ?

It's very unsual that a spark plug would break on the thread part, it's normally the ceramic bit, which should leave the nut shaped bit intact so a normal plug spanner should remove it, however if this isn't the case, then it very much depends on the access you have, I'd probably bite the bullet and remove the head to be save, the bike sounds like it's not had the greatest care in the world and I'd want to make sure everything topend was OK as well whilst I was there.

Cheers Mark.

I completly agree here Rictus. It would't be a bad thing to drop the engine out and strip it down, inspect both banks of cylinders and valves for wear and tear, adjust valve clearances etc etc. V4 engines are easier to work on out of the frame

P.S. kisses back at you pagan xxx :P