Hi Scotty, I have a 2000 Toyota Camry 4cylinder with 178k miles. I went to change the spark plugs and one ended up breaking and another stripping. All the plugs were hard to pull and I found that the 2 I was able to pull were the wrong plugs and they were cross threaded. I can’t get the broken or the stripped plug out which leave me to believe they are cross threaded too. I’ve tried extraction tools and pliers but they won’t budge. Should I get rid of my Camry or should I do a whole cylinder head replacement? I love my Camry and I feel she has a lot of life left and I don’t want to get rid of it if it’s worth fixing. Please help.
The threads can be fixed. If you can pull the cylinder head off you could install heli-coils or similar product, or send the head to a machine shop to have the work done.
There are guys who will do the job with the head in place but I'd be paranoid about shavings being left in the cylinder despite best efforts to prevent that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-Ou4DiwSU
Time-Sert is much better than Helicoil. I agree with Chuck. If you want to keep the car, take the head off where it can be repaired AND rebuilt (guides, 3 angle grind, stem seals, etc.) You'll be putting on a new head gasket, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets. It will be almost like a new engine.
You "feel" like it has a lot of life, but your crankshaft bearings and piston rings may have another story to tell. Not to mention transmission. I don't think I wouldn't invest a tremendous amount of money into this car.
