Does anyone know a heli-coil'er?
Discussion
Just back from High Wycombe after a veeeery long day. The Clio spat a spark plug out tonight whilst on the M40. I suspect a heli-coil tap would work, over taking the head off to re-thread the (confirmed as knackered) spark plug hole, done it in the past but that was almost 20 years ago and I've never come across this around here. I just wondered if anyone knows of a mechanic who does this, around here (within 5 miles of Bagshot ideally as it's running on 3 cylinders). But joy elsewhere, my Impreza which has gathered moss for 12 months, is now with mechanics in Cornwall and looks, well fingers crossed, like getting it back on the road with modest power (350 bhp so 290ish/tonne) won't be too costly and difficult 
I'm not counting my chickens on that one though as the full appraisal is pending and it could be an engine out jobby! And my wife gets her 1.6 auto 307 on Saturday so I will of course be up for a hoon in it on Sunday!
I'm not counting my chickens on that one though as the full appraisal is pending and it could be an engine out jobby! And my wife gets her 1.6 auto 307 on Saturday so I will of course be up for a hoon in it on Sunday!hewlett said:
they aren't that bad,Just stop drilling when you hit the piston
yes, you might be struggling with blu-tack .. we might have to invest in araldite ..
ETA or, of course, this this option:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Renault-Clio-172-/-182-Gas-F...
ETA or, of course, this this option:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Renault-Clio-172-/-182-Gas-F...
Edited by johnvthe2nd on Wednesday 13th January 08:59
johnvthe2nd said:
yes, you might be struggling with blu-tack .. we might have to invest in araldite ..
Duct tape?Been a few years since I have heard of Helicoils. Used to be a vital bit of car repair, especially sump plugs, and a bloke from school that took the plugs out of a warm "Shove-it", only to find that they wouldn't go back.
If it has stripped the thread on the head, the head will have to come off. This will mean new cambelt kit, gaskets etc (I don't think they're cheap, have a look), so that cost could add up to £350 ish if we did it ourselves (and getting the cam timing spot on on a twin-cam is not for the faint hearted!)
then there is this option:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RENAULT-CLIO-2-0-16V-172-SPO...
but for that money you might be better to try to get them to fix the impreza straight away ..
then there is this option:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RENAULT-CLIO-2-0-16V-172-SPO...
but for that money you might be better to try to get them to fix the impreza straight away ..
Edited by johnvthe2nd on Wednesday 13th January 10:05
Thanks a lot John, I just need the smallest reason to swap to the Impreza as the daily run around but it's a long way away in Cornwall and is a few weeks from being road worthy I think. The AA guy said that the thread was damaged and he didn't feel confident screwing the spark plug in as it felt like it was starting to create it's own thread as it were. Well I'm at home so I have time to ponder, do some research...consider putting it straight onto eBay and being done with it. Its just as it has new brakes, suspension and a gearbox last year some young lad will get a bargain! Cheers for all the advice, offers, everyone.
motco said:
'The Thead Doctor' is based in Camberley I think. He did my son's Pug 306Xsi when it did exactly the same thing - good job, and quick. 01252 879889 or 07831 345804.His name is Perryn Allen
Being a mechanical numpt that's absolutely the best option, calling him now, many thanks Motco hewlett said:
Thanks a lot John, I just need the smallest reason to swap to the Impreza as the daily run around but it's a long way away in Cornwall and is a few weeks from being road worthy I think. The AA guy said that the thread was damaged and he didn't feel confident screwing the spark plug in as it felt like it was starting to create it's own thread as it were. Well I'm at home so I have time to ponder, do some research...consider putting it straight onto eBay and being done with it. Its just as it has new brakes, suspension and a gearbox last year some young lad will get a bargain! Cheers for all the advice, offers, everyone.
what happened then? did the plug come unscrewed, or did it actually 'fire' itself out of the head?.. chap in Camberley sounds like a good bet ..
Friendly and very busy fella, he says he has a huge backlog of jobs he's not been able to get to because of the snow and to call him when the snow clears. That's cool, I'm not going anywhere for a while and in the meantime I'll walk around to my local garage just in case they have the know how, inclination. Cheers again all.
Well I was coming down the M40 just before the A404 turn off, the car suddenly lost power and started making a really loud 'tractor like' noise. Luckily I'd been going fast enough to take it out of gear and coast up the off ramp, through the traffic lights and into the hotel (next to Frankie&Benny's) car park. The AA guy thought initially that the exhaust manifold had come off, but spotted that one of the spark plug housings appeared to have lifted up. He took all of the gubbins at the top of the engine off and the spark plug lifted clean out, still attached to it's power supply. It seems to have worked itself lose and somehow the thread's damaged as the plug would screw back in. I'm not 100% sure the AA guy didn't damage it when he was trying to get it back in as it's a bit fiddlesome, but, the outcome is that the screw is almost definitely knackered. I just felt lucky that the cam belt hadn't broken, nothing serious was wrong, it's been very reliable engine wise so is allowed to have the occasionally tantrum! Roll on getting the Scoob back though..
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