Yesterday I was going to take the valve cover off my daughters 96 Civic to take a look at the timing belt. We bought this car used and I wanted to see if I could judge if the belt look like it had been replaced. (120K miles)

I got the first two plugs out, though they were tighter than I expected, but the third one didn't want to budge. Not wanting to break it off, I stopped and replaced the others.

Are the plugs in a '96 Civic in extra tight or do they sieze. I suppose it's also possible that the last owner cross threaded the plug.

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

 

first, i wouldent run 3 new and 1 old plug, thats like changing 3 tires and leaving a bald one, it just dosent make sense. As for the binding problem, i think if they had cross threaded, you would have compression issues in that cylinder as it would not be sealed correctly, just be patient with it, dont jerk it, just be persistent and it should free up.

 

if the engine was warm, it might be easier to loosen the plug, just don't burn yourself

 

I didn't change out the plugs yet. I just replaced the originals.

I wondered if it would help with the engine was warm.

Thanks. I'll try it with the engine warm.

 

Oh-oh never remove plugs with a warm engine with an aluminum head=striped threads...well its probably too late.

 

why should you remove it if the motor warm. It sounds like that would make it easier to remove it.

 

i had the same problem with my civic also when i first got it i think someone just over tightend the plugs when i finally got the plugs out nothing was wrong with them so hopefully you duaghters will be fine also