Ok I need some help. I have had the issue with the horrible idle and all that so I was doing some maintenance to my truck. I got a new air cleaner plugs, all the stuff. I cleaned all my fuel injection parts, even changed my egr valve cause it was really beyond hope. I was going to pull my intake manifold and change the gasket but before I did I was going to change my plugs cause I wanted to see how much carbon buildup was on them.
I was fine for five of them. I got to the back plug by the Brake master cylinder, put my socket and two small extensions in there and it started turning right away. I thought it was weird but I kept turning. After a few second I thought maybe the guy who owned it before me never tightened it up right so I tried to tighten it. That is when it occured to me. It is stripped. It is why it probably runs like junk.
Now what do I do? Can I remove the valve cover without removing the spark plugs? I figured if I got the cover off I could get to the plug and do SOMETHING with it.
Oh its a 1999 isuzu rodeo 3.2 4x4

If you can get that #6 plug to snug back down, I'd leave it & change the rest. It's probably firing fine as you would get a misfire code from that cyl if it wasn't. Your only other options are to replace the head, try to heli-coil that plug bore, or try to drill it out & tap it for a wider but same depth plug. To be honest, I would not suspect the plugs for the idle issue. Sounds more like a bad IMG, dirty throttle body, dirty EGR plumbing, or dirty MAF. Remember, 90% of the time it's NOT the EGR valve itself, it's a clogged outlet tube in the common chamber. Don't replace that $$$ EGR valve unless you KNOW it's bad.
G/luck
Joel

Em, if the plug hole is stripped bad enough, that would cause a loss of compression in the number 6 cylinder rendering that cylinder pretty much dead. Yeah, that would cause a rough idle and huge power loss.

You can do the Heli-coil thing with the head on the truck but you need to use some grease on the tap to catch the metal shavings so they don't drop into the cylinder.

I'm not sure what the heli-coil method is, but in the past I've had a stripped sparkplug before. I took it into my mechanic, who got the plug out. When I asked him how he planned on cleaning out the shavings, he just started up the car, and i watched all sorts of crap blow out of that hole. You can try that too if you have to re-tap your engine

Em, if the plug hole is stripped bad enough, that would cause a loss of compression in the number 6 cylinder rendering that cylinder pretty much dead. Yeah, that would cause a rough idle and huge power loss..

If the plug didn't seal at all, causing a loss of compression, it would blow the coil pack assembly right out of the plug tower & make a horrible hissing/popping noise while running on 5 cyls. :uhoh:

G/luck
Joel

either way, it's not going to be a pretty fix.

i would take the heads off, and then have them drilled out for a larger spark plug (or even just that one cylinder) you DON"T want metal shavings inside the engine--even if you think that they all will blow out. it would cause issues down the road.

also an oil change would be in order--maybe 2

I wouldn't sweat some light aluminum shavings in the cyl. A quick hit with a shop vac and some thin vinyl tubing/hose should take much of it out. Thing is, I don't think you could even work on that #6 cyl due to it's proximity to the brake booster. Even the #6 coil pack is smaller due to space constraints. Hate to say it, but It might be easier just to remove that head & work on it out of the truck.
G/luck
Joel

I've never heard of "larger spark plugs". :sly:

I've never heard of "larger spark plugs". :sly:

Larger outer diameter on the spark plug threads :icon16: . There's many different OD's avail. This *might* work on rodeos without the ion sensing ignition (up to 1999-00?) I wouldn't try it on the ion equipped.
G/luck
Joel