Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Spark plug removal

My own salutary lesson but not meant to panic you, just take your time and be careful.

When I bought my Zetec engined 4/4 from Allon White, it was "fully serviced" and MOT'd before I took delivery.

It came with a very comprehensive service history so one bored evening, I decided to read through it all in detail.

I discovered that about 3 years before I took delivery the garage that serviced it (not Allon White) reported that they could not get numbers 1 & 2 plugs out but as it was fitted with platinum plugs they would not need changing anyway.

The owner therefore decided to leave them in and only had the other 2 checked which were fine.

When I discovered that, I went straight into the garage to use my superior skills to entice the plugs to free themselves.

Tried everything above and more. Left penetrating fluid for several days etc but still they wouldn't budge.

At this point I decided to stop because I knew that if I persevered I stood a real chance of stripping the thread.

I therefore notified Allon White and asked them to change the plugs for me and informed them about the service history note which they had missed and I asked them if they had taken the plugs out when they serviced the car.

They said that because of the type of plug fitted, they did not need changing so they had not removed them.

After a short and amicable discussion they agreed that if I got the car back to them, they would remove the plugs, check them and replace if necessary.

Guess what, the plugs were absolutely stuck and they ended up stripping the threads on numbers 1 & 2 cylinders.

However, the car was still under warranty and without question AW arranged for the head to be repaired with the correct thread insert (Similar to Helicoil but specific for spark plugs threads).

Ultimately great service from AW but IMHO they should have checked them before I took delivery and what would have happened if I had not discovered the problem until the next service was due when the car would have been out of warranty.

2 lessons.

1. Ask the dealer if they have removed the plugs when the car is serviced.

2. When you buy a secondhand car with an Aluminium head, check the service history thoroughly.

I was very lucky as it's an expensive job to put thread inserts in a cylinder head.

As you have to remove the inlet manifold, throttle body etc on the Roadster I decided to let the garage do mine.

Ivormog...thanks for that as it certainly backs up the suggestion I made in my earlier post about lack of plug removal during servicing. As these are well known issues, any dealer worth their salt should surely be doing this as routine and not finding excuses to avoid. How many other things have been “checked” or “Inspected” , words that seem to mean vastly different things to different people! A big bill for your service does not always mean a thorough job!

Indeed. No wonder many of us prefer to perform our own maintenance and servicing on our P&J.

Sorry guys but these are nothing more than your own opinions and not fact or in any manner what a dealer should do.

I service my own cars and have done for more years than I can remember, Three of these cars have 50,000 to 60,000 mile spark plug change intervals and I have waited until that time to remove the plugs.

I have been servicing cars for years and I know of no one among my many friends who service their own cars who would remove spark plugs on an annual basis on a modern car.

As always your cars and you do what you want but do not criticise servicing garages for carrying out work as advised by the manufacturer to their schedule.

Oh and over those years, I cleaned plugs at 12,000 miles on a car that were specified in those days to a 24,000 miles spark plug change.
I did not tighten one plug properly and it shot out the head after a few weeks.

I got away with just needing a helicoil in the head.

You may have your own opinions but in my experience with a modern car you can cause a problem with sorting something that is not broken!

Sorry Eddie, don't agree.

Admittedly a modern spark plug should last 40,000 miles ( according to the Haynes Mondeo Manual) but that does not allow for the fact that Morgans have louvred bonnets which allow water to get in to the cam cover well and cause the plugs to seize into their threads,

This is a known issue on several Morgan models and I would have thought a Morgan Dealer would check for it even though Ford (in my case) say the plug will last 40,000 miles.

Remember, in a Morgan, that 40,000 miles could take many years to accomplish by which time the plug could be well and truly seized.

Just like it was on my freshly serviced car.

An engine cover is crucial really on the Ford 4 cylinders, and not a difficult job using sheet aluminium.

I haven't disturbed the plugs on y GDI yet, but the cover has kept them completely dry.

I had the plugs out once on Mr Bumble, and I tried to find my post but so far have failed. They came out easily, but number 1 was badly corroded, with progressively less corrosion moving back. Number 4 was quite clean.

My understanding was that modern plugs have some sort of thread treatment which resists seizure and up to now, the few I've messed with have all come out easily.

Yes, I had a telephone conversation with a GKN technical guy last year and he informed me of the same thing and said no additional lube was required.

Agree with the lube theory but did whoever checked the plugs or changed them last time lubricate the threads? And with the correct lube?

So easy to check and spark plug condition can give an early indication of other engine issues.

Griffo's second point is worth noting, I use Mintex Ceratec