I took my truck into the dealer and they got am error code indicating something wrong in #3 cylinder. The mechanic said the plug broke off while he was trying to remove it. It broke mid thread on the plug so that half of the lower metal part of the plug is still in the head. He said he will have to remove the head to be able to get at the plug to remove it. Initial estimate is $1700. Yikes!!
I don't know how to proceed.....any suggestions? thank, rick

 

It seems to me that if the mechanic at the Toyota dealership broke the sparkplug, then the Toyota dealership must fix it for free.

 

If the problem is not caused by your errors, then you shouldn't be paying for the mistakes they have made. I've heard of the porcelain insulators snapping,. but never the lower half of the spark plug.

 

x2! Don't let them screw you over.

Rob

 

Thats there bad, they should do the work for free.

 

yep tell the dealership where they can go and fix it and if they dont want to sue

 

I recently replaced my plugs and it felt like every one of them was going to strip or break during removal. The plugs were corroded and had no anti-seize on them. If yours are really corroded and seized, the dealer can hardly be faulted for it snapping off.

A little CSI-style inspection of the broken plug should help determine if any pieces fell into the cylinder. If the piece left in the head is a hollow shell it seems he could thread an extractor in and try backing it out. If that is successful they could stick a shop vac nozzle down in the cylinder head plug cavity and rotate the engine by hand in hopes of any debris will get sucked out. Stick in a new plug and hope for the best.

I would advise anyone who attempts to remove a plug that is very stubborn to shoot some of their favorite loosening agent into the plug cavity and let it soak a while.

 

Dealer broke, dealer is liable. PERIOD.

 

x2...

 

exactly i mean im no professional mechanic and i know not to force ▓▓▓▓ when its stuck so i dont get stuck paying to replace ▓▓▓▓.

 

Just becuase it got broke while the dealer was trying to remove it doesnt mean they are liable. If the plug was honestly very corroded and broke while trying to take it out--that is not the dealers fault. When i used to wrench we would get people that brought in their POS and say X was wrong. Start tearing into the thing and next thing you know all the hoses are toast, thermostate housing toast......leaking oil everywhere.

Well we would call them up and tell them this stuff was bad and while fixing X there was no way to save this stuff. Not to mention having to charge them to degrease the engine.

I X2 Maj on the solution--

 

shortly after I moved to TN I need a CV replaced on my car, so I went to a "reputible" dealer and had the work done. when I came back to pick up the car, the service manager said that I needed to replace my hood latch because it wasnt locking down. it was supposed to be like a $400 job because it was hard to access and they'd have to rush deliver a part from nashville to get it done by today.

I looked at the damn hood latch and noticed that a loose nut was below the locking mechanism, not allowing it to fully engage.

so I show the SM as politely as I could, while still allowing him to know how infuriated I was about the situation, especially since there was no telling whether the nut came from my car or from one of the mechanic's pocket... so instead of offering to re-check everything he offered me a free oil change.

Now I'm generally a nice person, but at that point I had just had ENOUGH! I demanded that he give me my keys, and told him that if he were to charge me for the work, he wouldn't have a place of work to come into tomorrow morning. so I took the car to another place and had them check the work.

I haven't heard from the other place since, and it's been almost 2 years.

(It turned out that the nut must have been from someone elses car because mine checkd out, and the nut was english, not metric)

 

it was already part way out. i say the stealer should cover ALL the costs

 

i think they should be responsible...any body that works on cars knows not to use a low of power on plugs for that reason. I have a friend that works at sewell Lexus here in texas if they break something they replace it plain and simple...Hold the dealership liable

 

It depends on why it broke. If he was simply being an idiot and broke from excessive force, then I say the dealership covers the cost. If it was cross threaded or severely corroded then I'm going to have to say it's probably not their responsibility.

At my work if a car comes in and one of the lugs is cross threaded on the stud when taking them off, we don't pay to replace the stud because we didn't put it on like that. We shouldn't have to pay for someone elses mistake.

 

true but the mechanic should have stopped when it got difficult to turn and let the customer know. But now it is broken off in the head half way down the threads. How do you do that? I have seen the NGK pull out of the threads but that is it

 

I agree completely. So...I really don't know what should happen. Maybe half and half?

 

I love Sewell...and yes If they start the job they finish the job. Thats why they charge 75 an hour. A dealership should figure out the job before they stick you will 1500 for a job I could do in 1 hour...if all goes well, in which yours did not.

 

I am a mechanic and I must, unfortunately, speak against the actions of my fellow mechanic in this case.

Spark plug removal can sometimes become troublesome. Like others have mentioned, the plugs can be corroded, they could have been cross-threaded in a previous replacement attempt, they could have seized due to "heat treatment", etc. So, what do all the above mentioned problems have in common? As soon as I feel that uncommon effort is necessary in order to remove a spark plug I immediately stop, apply a lubricant/penetrator, and contact the customer explaining the problem and possible consequenses. From this point, some customers will tell you to continue to work on the vehicle, while others will tell you to stop. However, this clearly eliminates the problem being discussed above because after informing the customer you are no longer liable for the consequences of continuing the removal of the problematic spark plug. But if you continue the procedure without contacting the customer first, then you have committed yourself to the job and it is your responsibility to return the vehicle to the customer in the same shape it was given to you.

Keep in mind that the above is not law, it is simply my take on business ethics. I believe that in this case the mechanic screwed his shop and his shop is trying to screw you. The service manager should have realized that they dropped the ball and they need to restore your vehicle to working order. The only invoice you are responsible for is the one that you had agreed upon before the spark plug broke in the head.

 

I have had a plug break off in the head, its possible to drill it out, then heli coil it and have it work. Not the best solution but it will work..

I believe you have a case to request the dealer fix it.. But good luck, keep everyone posted as to the outcome. I would also pull a plug after you get it back to verify they put anti seize on them to prevent future issues.

My plugs were the originals when I changed them at 160K miles.. 2 of them really worried me, but patiently tightening then loosening, the spraying lubricant I lucked out..

Keep us posted as to what they decide..