by mike.smith » Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:46 pm
I have always had to remove the intakes to get to the upper plugs. One suggestion I have not been able to try yet is to start them out with a plug wrench, then use a length of rubber hose to go over the plugs and finish rotating them out. The bottom ones are completely accessible without removing anything. Those are the easy ones. So those are the ones I go to when doing a leak down test. For a plug wrench I have the kind that is made of thin sheet metal and has a removable tee handle. When you reinstall plugs DO use anti-seize on the threads. And if you feel ANY resistance on the plugs as you screw them in, STOP, remove the plug and try again. You really have to get them centered up, and they need to go in with little resistance or you are cross threading them for sure. There have been times where I had to try a dozen times to get them to go in properly, but in 2 years and many plug removals I have not stripped the plug holes. And my personal opinion is to not torque them to specs. I have snapped the insulator doing that and then it's a nightmare getting the plug body out. Just snug them down and you won't have any issues. The VW dune buggy guys say the same thing.