Getting to the plugs

Newbie to the forum here.

Anyways, the vehicle is a '93 Tropper with 3.2L SOHC (I think). It's not my vehicle, so bear with me.
Getting the wire and long boot out is fine, but where we have trouble is getting the actual plug out of the deep hole. It seems there is something around the plug still which prevents us from getting a socket around it. You can't even see the nut on the plug.

Here is a pic of what we see.

http://www.derzaphonline.com/plug.jpg
http://www.derzaphonline.com/plug2.jpg
http://www.derzaphonline.com/plug3.jpg

It appears whatever is around the plug extends nearly to the top of the insulator. It looks to be a seal to keep the oil off the plug. What is this and how do we get the plugs out?

(By the way, he is without a haynes manual) This task should be a simple thing to do (at least on my vehicle), but is bugging the heck out of us. Who engineered this engine?
Thanks.

Because of the photos, I can see exactly what is going on.

I had the same problem when working on my 3.2L Isuzu.

The "seal" actually belongs on the end of the spark plug wire tube, not on the plug itself. The glue has failed leaving the "seal" on the spark plug, not on the tube where it belongs.

In my toolbox, I have a long thin rod with a hook on the end. I used it to dig out the "seal" and it came out in pieces. It took some patience but I was able to remove enough of it to get a spark plug socket on the spark plug. You'll need to do the same.


Hope this helps,
Dale