Help with Spark Plug Question

:banghead: Hi, I have a quick question and I was wondering if someone could help. Recently my boyfriend was trying to do a tune-up when he tightened the spark plug to tight and stripped the hole that it goes into. Now I cant drive my car because the spark plug keeps popping out. What do I do now? I was told not to get a healy coil because they(the ppl at the auto parts store) said once you pull the spark plug its no good anymore. So can anyone here offer me some advice because Im stressing. :2cents: Cheapest way first please!!! I will take in any sugestions someone can give me, THXXX :naughty:

Some GM things are designed so that the cheaper part has weaker threads than the more expensive part. For example, oil pan-oil plug, the plug will fail, so try a good spark plug in the messed up cylender, and if it doesn't seem to get tight, then you've got big trouble.

Talk to a good mechanic and see if they can repair it with a helicoil. I have seen these things work on race engines so why wouldn't it work on a street engine. If you need to replace the entire head then it will cost you major bucks.

Uh like what?? I know nothing about cars. My brother is a mechanic and he said I was looking at a very time consuming job, not to mention it can get costly. So I was looking for some suggestions here!! Ty for the info though anything is worth a try!!

I was also told with the hepicoil thing that its going to be a B**** trying to get in their to fix it because there isnt a lot of room in there???

I realize that it is time consuming but it is far less time consuming than it would be to purchase another head, have the entire top end of the engine removed and replaced. If you do the latter then expect to pay upwards of $700 for the repair. A helicoil and a couple of hours labor would be far cheaper. By the way if your brother is a mechanic and your boyfriend broke it in the first place why isn't he paying your brother to fix it for you.

Yea some thing GM designed to have the cheaper part break before the more expensive part but, the spark plug and the threads on the heads have to hold the extreme pressures that build up in the combustion chamber. Both the spark plug and the head are made of stornger metal. There are only two fixes for your situation. Get a new head, or, repair it with a helicoil

Thank you guys for your help. My brother is going to try to fix it once he has the time. He owns his own business so his time is very limited. However I was just trying to save some time seeing if there was something else he could to the tear down that whole top. This guy told me to try JB Weld, but my brother said NOOOO. So I think we are going to go with the coil thing and see how that goes!!! :smokin: