Siezed spark plugs

Anybody have any ideas for me about how to remove siezed up spark plugs from aluminum heads?
This is on the Harley which has sat for 20 years.
For 10 days now I've been squirting a bit of PB Blaster on the plugs 2 or 3 times a day. A few days ago I tried to remove them, one felt scary but reasonable but the other feels like it is rending metal rather than unscrewing. I have continued soaking them, but it still doesn't feel right. I have only turned them maybe a 16th of a turn. I have no idea if they have heli-coils, that is not uncommon on old short plug Harley heads.
You think heating them with a torch & then letting them cool a bit might help? Or heating the head around them?
I can pull the heads with them in, but I'd like to get them out so I can fill the cylinder with solvent first.

John

Heat the spark plugs??? I dunno. I'd figure that if you could get them to wink a little then maybe they'll screw but you might just have to jerk the heads to get them out...

John,
I would pull the heads. Then heat the plugs and let cool. If still stuck, heat it in an oven.

I always thought you wanted to heat the mass the small object was inserted into, wether it's a screw/press fitting.....even a morse taper....then tap/unscrew the shaft outta there....

so I would heat the head, then put a ice cube on the plug, and then rapidly take it out....

I have done this with exhaust manifolds in the past....seized tighter than whale pussy (and that's waterproof) but start the engine, and get up to temps....then put ice cube on the bolt head.....hear it go HISSS-BOINK....

wrench it immediately as in NOW.....

:friends:

Take them off
Knock the porcelain out
Slice the spark plug metal shell from the inside, by hand, with a fine, slim sawzall blade, almost to the threads
Lube well
Wack plug shell with a punch and hammer
Should unscrew
If not, more slices

010752 said:

Take them off
Knock the porcelain out
Slice the spark plug metal shell from the inside, by hand, with a fine, slim sawzall blade, almost to the threads
Lube well
Wack plug shell with a punch and hammer
Should unscrew
If not, more slices

Click to expand...

I like that approach. Except, I find knocking the porcelain out harder than it sounds. It's a PITA.:crap:

Remove the head,flip it upside down and put some penitrant in the combustion chamber,heat the head from the bottom side until the penitrant begins to show signs of getting hot then walk away and let it cool.Do this several times and the penitrant will be drawn in and release the plug.You can replace the penitrant with wax,just toss a candle in on top of the plug and heat till it melts let cool and so on until it comes loose.

18436572 said:

.Do this several times and the penitrant will be drawn in and release the plug..

Click to expand...

That's what i was going to suggest. Heat the head with a propane torch then shoot it with PB blaster so it will be drawn into the threads similiarly to how solder is drawn into copper pipe when your doing plumbing work.

i would imagine you would have to do it many times to get the PB blaster worked in.

turtlevette said:

18436572 said:

.Do this several times and the penitrant will be drawn in and release the plug..

Click to expand...

That's what i was going to suggest. Heat the head with a propane torch then shoot it with PB blaster so it will be drawn into the threads similiarly to how solder is drawn into copper pipe when your doing plumbing work.

i would imagine you would have to do it many times to get the PB blaster worked in.

Click to expand...

If you get the head hot first the PB will smoke real bad when you spray it in,makes me cough.If you pour some in and make a little puddle which covers the plug and then heat until it starts to smoke and then quit and walk away and let it cool it works real well.I've done a lot of small cycle heads this way.

Have you tried tightening and loosening, then repeat (about 1000 times)? I got this to work along with soaking in Kroil.

Good suggestions all.....
I am going to take my time on this, it's not like I need it to be running any time soon.
I'm leery of putting a torch to anything until I get the bike cleaner--it's so covered in greasy oily dirt I think the whole thing would go up in flames, and I'm leery of starting a major disassembly until I'm positive of my ownership status.

Nothing wrong with PB, but I've used Hoppes #9 Gun Solvent with great success. Even on some things that PB had failed on.

JPhil said:

Good suggestions all.....
I am going to take my time on this, it's not like I need it to be running any time soon.
I'm leery of putting a torch to anything until I get the bike cleaner--it's so covered in greasy oily dirt I think the whole thing would go up in flames, and I'm leery of starting a major disassembly until I'm positive of my ownership status.

Click to expand...

Yeach, I hate cleaning damn grease off a car/anything....greazy assed road filth, put the whole damn thing in a concrete mixing tray and use gasoline.....
gets about 95% of it....

at least use the pan for drips......

I have a drywall bucket out front with a cover over it...full of gasoline and old grease/filth drippings in the bottom.....

:ill:

mrvette said:

I always thought you wanted to heat the mass the small object was inserted into, wether it's a screw/press fitting.....even a morse taper....then tap/unscrew the shaft outta there....

Click to expand...

I have found if you heat the smaller part, it expands the hole, then shrinks back down and comes out easier. Sometimes I do both, and alternate. Heat is defenitely your friend here, but warm aluminum galls easier.

:thumbs:

(10 characters)

I'm still a big fan of Kroil. I've used it without heat and it's pretty effective...

Well I got the plugs out a couple nights ago. It was scary, but they came out OK, so I then removed the timing plug on the side of the cases. Using the turkey baster (my wife lives overseas, so I can do that) I filled the cylinders & crankcase with a mixture of probably 70/30% PB Blaster / ATF (that's what I got in the garage right now). I then cut all the (rubber) oil lines & removed drain-back check spring and have been pumping the elixir into the top end, timing case & every other available orifice (not as kinky as it sounds, but kind of exciting for a motorhead nonetheless). As of tonite I have probably 1 1/2 gallons in it. Put the timing plug back in when solvent started coming out there (approximately the 1 gallon point), and have continued filling as it will take it...... It seems the trans is locked, the kicker & clutch hub won't move a bit.
Stay tuned, as the saga is just beginning.....

So John, what finally worked the best?

I dunno---I just squirted the plugs with PBB twice a day for two weeks & then tried them again.
With the tranny locked up I cannot turn over the engine using the kicker. I removed the derby cover & tried twisting the clutch hub with crossed prybars to no avail. The tranny filler cap is siezed (surprise surprise) so I can't pour solvent in there to try to free it up and I can't get a good wrench on it without removing the floorboard & exhaust pipes. I can't put a socket on the engine sprocket without removing the other floorboard, primary cover & primary drive belt....
I do not want to get into disassembling the bike even that much until I know it's mine. I talked to Craig at the jail again today and he says he wants to keep the bike......As I have alluded to before, it's like having his girlfriend sleeping in the front bedroom: I can hear her whimpering in the night, but I can't let myself go in there to comfort her because I know what will happen next. And she is still his girl, not mine.
So I do not know what my efforts so far have accomplished. Except to learn that a turkey baster bulb is only good for 4 or 5 days of PB Blaster before it starts dissolving