First of all, it's been a long time.......but this site still continues to help me.....

I started a new job and I cannot post from there.......my commute is so long that by the time I get home the last thing I want to think about is my car.

It has been breaking regularly and has cost me a lot of money lately, in both repairs and work missed due to repairs.

Then, this morning, it blew the #4 cylinder spark plug. All the others were loose, so I can only assume this one worked its way halfway out and then blew the rest of the threads on its way. My buddy tried to rethread it with a die as a stopgap measure but that failed to work. I will attempt to fix it with a helicoil, but the eclipse has worn me and my wallet down over the last month and I literally fear every turn of the key: as a rule, everything I fix results in two more problems.

If any of you have any advice for the helicoil install, I would love to hear it. The search option has turned up a few articles that show that the helicoil should work, but I have never done it before. Due to financial/time constraints I will not be able to remove the head and do it the right way......as long as it runs long enough to get to work until i get rid of it VERY soon, it is worth it.

In any case, I wish you all a great warm season and want to thank you again for maintaining such a great resource. Hopefully you aren't in and out of soup kitchens, begging for enough change to buy a coffee at an internet cafe so you can log on to Warband!

yo if ur anywhere near CA, id like to check out your car. ive been wanting to buy nother eclipse.

If your not planning on removing the head, the only advise I can give you is after tapping the hole for the helicoil, put in the helicoil and plug, then unplug your coil pack and go like your going to start the car. With the coil pack unplugged, between the piston moving up and down and the compression, it will blow all the little shards of metal out of the cylinder and into your exhaust.

Either that or if you have a compressor around, blow out the cylinder real well.

I don't mean to criticize, but I really would advise against that. I would be really nervous about metal shards finding their way up against the cylinder walls and scratching them. This could cause the cylinder to drop compression and increase blowby.

I guess my point is that if you're going to do it, then do it right. Take the head off, tap and helicoil and reinstall.


If you're going to leave the head on, at least put a lot of grease in the tap's threads to gather much of the shards, but like I said, if it were me, I'd pull the head off.

Brian

thanks. these are all good replies and definitely worth a follow up:

1. i am out of NJ, so unfortunately I cant sell you the car. believe me, i want to get rid of it.

2. thats a very good idea and i'm gonna do exactly that (the whole coilpack sequence). of course, i am gonna brush and then shop vac out as much as i can first. this was a good piece of advice taylor made for the way i HAVE to do this......thanks!

3. ultimately, taking the head off is the only responsible way to do this......but given my finances/need to get back to work monday, and this specific car's history, the time and money necessary to do all that work is just not practical......if the helicoil doesnt work out the car will be sold/scrapped IMMEDIATELY and i will go buy any POS i can find that will run.......i used to be on this board a lot, and i used to love my car. then i got a new job far, far away and my car started to break down every 2 weeks as the commute is just too much for it.....i am inches away from being fired due to workdays missed because of repairs. you can only put so much money into a daily driver before you cross into the land of diminishing returns.

Unfortunately my car is no longer a matter of passion, but a mere tool of utility. If it runs for a few more months, allowing me to collect enough scratch for another car, that is enough for me.

thanks for all the input.

as a side note, i was wearing my Team 2GNT t-shirt to work for the first time ever when this happened........i havent been on the board much since i got the shirt this winter.....

is anyone else having bad luck with these t-shirts??!! i am only half-kidding when i ask that........

Where are at in NJ?? I'm in PA and might be interested.
What model and year and what are you looking to get for it??
Thanks

Well, I am near Hackettstown. the car is a 95 GS MTX w/138k on the motor. the body is in good shape for the mileage but it leaks clutch fluid and the front brake caliper bleed screws snapped off and need to be extracted or your gonna need to get new calipers when you do the fluid....

i got the car fixed and want to put a full description on how it worked for future reference:

Spark plug blow out/stripped spark plug threads in head (w/o removing head if you cant afford it):

tools:
air compressor
ratchet, 6" socket extension, spark plug socket
compression meter
14mm helicoil/thread repair coil (not the slinky coil, you need the one that is a solid sleeve with a flange)
locktite
dual thickness thread repair tap.....14mm on the end then tapering or switching to a thicker tap....i believe these are a universal fit




with the compression meter, turn the car over until you have compression at TDC, so both valves are closed

connect the tap to the extension and ratcet, and then spray WD-40 into the hole as lubricant......screw the tap down through the hole and spray in the WD-40 as needed....i didnt do the tapping so i dont know if you go all the way through or not.....anybody have an answer, please add it here. remove tap

using compressed air, and an air hose extension, blow out the cylinder REALLY GOOD. the shavings should blow out of the cylinder. if you are forced to be ghetto about the whole thing, you are too poor to afford having a scored cylinder or destroyed valves. GET ALL THE SHAVINGS OUT......MAKE SURE YOU VERIFY BY CHECKING THE CYLINDER

screw the spark plug into the helicoil sleeve all the way, with the flange of the sleeve at the top. apply loctite to the outside of the sleeve.

with the sleeve on the spark plug, install as you would regularly install a spark plug.

bang, youre done.

i wont be selling for a few months but when i do ill post a FS thread.

thanks for all your help guys.