Rant: My buddy swore I could pull spark plugs on a cold LS motor from a '97 Tahoe

He told me just use a 5/8 thin wall socket and some elbow grease on a stone cold block. Cracked the porcelain on cylinder 3 and spent 4 hours with a vacuum extractor getting shards out of the hole. Anybody else learn the hard way that heat cycles really do matter for seized plugs in Atlanta's humidity?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_webb7d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back a little on this one. I've pulled plugs out of humid-Atlanta LS motors for years and never cracked one on a cold block if you use the right socket and some PB Blaster. Tbh your buddy's method isn't totally wrong, but you gotta soak those threads for a good 15-20 minutes before you even touch the socket. Ngl sometimes heat helps, but if the engine's stone cold and you take your time, it's usually fine. The real issue sounds more like the socket slipped or you weren't perfectly straight on cylinder 3.

evanr797d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself a few years back on a dry California engine. @nathan_webb is right about taking your time, but I swear by a little blue Loctite on the threads when putting new plugs in to stop them from seizing in the first place. Saves a lot of hassle next time you do the job.