Just venting, but the same plug blew out as did last time. I put one of those coil inserts in, and properly torqued it, and now several months later, it popped out again. Good thing I have another subaru to drive in the meantime.

 

--Todd

I believe Helicoil recommends not using Loctite, however, I put over 100,000 miles on my Legacy with a helicoil that I used blue Loctite on.

 

Tracy

 

Just venting, but the same plug blew out as did last time. I put one of those coil inserts in, and properly torqued it, and now several months later, it popped out again. Good thing I have another subaru to drive in the meantime.

 

--Todd

Helicoils aren't the right thing to use on stripped spark plugs.

 

You need a threaded sleeve insert. These are solid steel, threaded inside and out. It's the same idea as Helicoil, but not made of wire. Because they're made of solid steel, you can use Loctite on the outside threads. They also provide a better seal than Helicoils.

 

One manufacturer is TimeSert, and there are others.

 

I can't tell you where to get them. Princess Auto Parts in Canada has a sleeve-type plug repair kit (tap, 4 different length sleeves) for CA $ 7.50. I suspect the kit is made by Lisle.

Whatever I used was not wire, but a solid insert, threaded on both sides.

So I had it towed to the subaru dealership because I didn't want to deal with it again, and I have loads of subaru bucks.

 

the prognosis----Would not reccommend re-helicoiling it. Get new head(although he suggested both.) I just put this engine in last winter, and now I'm going to have to pull it again.

 

Actually I'm going to try to salvage the plug hole somehow. hmmm, helicoil inside a helicoil maybee..

 

If I do pull the engine, I'm going to make sure it's really shiny when I put it back in