How do you remove broken spark plugs?

Answer 1

Normally a plug will break at the top leaving the hex head still available. Unscrew it. If it is in a hemi head use long needle nose pliers, a magnetic pick up or put one or two layers of electrical tape on each face of the socket outside to inside over the end. This should make it tight enough to grip the plug.

But if the actual hex head of the spark plug is seized in and has sheared off while you were trying to remove it and it left the ceramic, the copper or metal rod, and the threads still in the head, you have 2 options. You can either remove the head itself and take it to a machine shop and have it removed, OR, and I don't recommend this, You can get a small metal rod (a long bolt of some sort), a hammer, a shop vac or a home vacuum cleaner, a small diameter rubber hose (I used a old fuel line) and a screw extractor set. Use the rod to chip out the inside of the plug and the shop vac with the rubber hose attached at the end (either Duct Tape it to it or use you hand to hold the hose and the vac hose) to remove the small pieces of ceramic, be careful because some small chips or the whole inside of the plug may go inside and land on top of the piston if you keep chipping hard. Once you have whats left of the plug hollowed out, hammer in and use the screw extractor to take it out. On my 1995 s-10 2.2 I used a 1/2" drive with an 4" extension and a 7/16 socket because the 3/8 drive's extensions kept breaking. Once the plug is out, use the shop vac and stick the small diameter hose inside the head through the spark plug hole and suck out any pieces that may have fallen in, after that run the engine w/o the plug for a few seconds to blow out any ceramic pieces that the vac may have missed, replace spark plug, and crank er' up.