Morphine

Ok, short story....4 days ago I got my truck smogged and when I picked her up she sounded "off". The next day I swore she sounded bad and I said "when I get home I'll look at you baby". Now on my drive home I heard a loud bang and my engine completely stalled out. When I restarted her I heard a familiar sound of a blown out spark plug. In my driveway I pop the hood and laying next to my fuse box is my #5 sparkplug and wire. CRAP! Now I finally had time to work on her and from what I can see, the threading in the head is starting to strip around the 2 or 3 ring going in.

Now I searched on here andf found info regarding "helicoils" and the disagreement as whether or not to take off the heads. I also read about running a "Thread Chaser" into the opening. Please give me some input. Can I find HeliCoils at Autozone and Pepboys? Does anyone live in SoCal and feel like giving a helping hand??? BBQ and make some new friends?

Horrible way to start the 4th of july weekend. Hope everyone has abetter one than myself. At least I got my new steering wheel on.

-=Morphine=-

abalagtas

I had the same thing happen to my Previa.

I used Timecerts => click here

Morphine

Thanks abalagtas, I also researched them as well. I forgot to list them. Is their enough room in the engine bay to retap the threads or will I have to pull the heads?
Also what size kit would I need? M14 x 1.25??

any other suggestions?

Thanks
-=Morphine=-

Captain_Toyota

I had to put a Helicoil in my '85 4Runner because the previous owner crossthreaded the # 3 sparkplug.
The new plug threaded right in and it ran 10 times better with OEM (Denso) plugs that it did with those POS Splitfires it had in it when I bought it!
Ive heard of several people with newer Ford trucks (Triton engines) who've had a spark plug pop out, never heard of it happening to a Toyota though!
Cap'n

FingerMan20

I don't think cramped space is the only thing you need to worry about if you are going to re-tap the threads with the head on. You need to do something to keep the metal shavings from falling in your engine. That's the main reason you are suggested to take off the head when you re-tap.

You should just grease the hell out of the tap you use, and use the most viscous crap nasty grease you can get your hands on, if you're really set on mot removing the head.

abalagtas

Sorry, I wasn't on the computer until today. I have to check, but M14 x1.25 sounds right, but remember I did this for my Previa. The reason I went with them is they had a kit for long SP tubes. A bit pricey for a one-time use, but it was cheaper than having to pull the head. The Previa is a mid-engine, so doing anything on the engine is a PITA.

Morphine

Thanks for the input everybody. Tomorrow is the day to find out how easy (hard) this fix is going to be. From looking at the threads I'm gonna run the same size tap as the threads are now and see if this will "Clear" the passage for me. From everything we can tell it is only one small spot that is preventing my spark plug from going in smoothly. My good buddy is stopping by tomorrow night after he gets off work (he's the best mechanic and friend for putting up with me...Thanks Dave) and is going to help me. He'll also tell me if this is going to e a viable solution or not.

If not then I'm going to use the timeserts products and get me on the road and trails again.

-=Morphine=-

2000t4r

Any update on this?

Morphine

Ok, so forget the helicoil and timeserts for now. All I did was pick up the correct size tap and reran it through the spark plug hole. Yes it was the M14x1.25 for anyone that needs it. Very little material came out but enough did for me to know that I screwed up somehow putting in the plugs.

My good friend and mechanic genius Dave stopped by and did pretty much all of the work. He described the process as not really re-tapping the heads but more or less verifying the integrity of the threads. If one is beginning to cross thread or is slightly damaged then it will straighten it out or at minimum remove the lip that is bent over.

He did stress that this will most likely not be a "FIX" but will atleast get me back on the road for awhile, hopefully a long while. I only drive 4.6miles round trip for work now. So I hope this lasts as I just put her all back together.

-=Morphine=-