Dropped sparkplug !

[JohnLiles]

Tried to remove left hand rear plug as suspected it not working as it should , 912 engine fitted in pre A engine bay , very little room . Used Klein flexible plug spanner from early 911 toolkit , rubber insert , it dropped plug as I tried to pull it out. Can only get one finger in the hole , can feel plug , it rolls about , how can I get it out ?

If I do get it out , what tool should I use in future ?

[cory cotherman]

I've had good luck with a magnet.

[Doug McDonnell]

Yes Magnet or flexible cable grabber. And patience.

[Mervyn Hyde]

Doug, borscope to see exactly where it is and then the magnet on a stick trick worked for me.

[Bruce Smith]

A pair of long needle nose pliers.

[Ned Gorski]

5 minute epoxy and a small piece of stiff wire or a popsicle stick .. mix up the epoxy once it starts to thicken 3 min or so,put it on the wire/ stick then place it on the plug let it harden . Them carefully maneuver the plug out ( the wire will gives you more flexibility than the stick).

Regards Ned

[John Clarke]

Hi John
Can't you just remove the tin ware to expose lost plug?
Jay

[Vic Skirmants]

Hi John
Can't you just remove the tin ware to expose lost plug?
Jay

That would be a hell of a lot of work. Magnet.

[Mike DeJonge]

or just leave it there until you pull the engine out at a later date. very frustrating to get it out of the confined spaces. hire a youngster for $5. he will work until he gets it out

[Wes Bender]

You must mean the FRONT spark plug on the left side (#3). The rear spark plug (#4) would be much easier to remove. As others have suggested, a magnet will work best to remove the plug. The spark plug wrench in your tool kit, or a spark plug socket should work just fine to remove and install spark plugs. Just make sure the rubber insert is in decent shape.

[David Lawrence]

I got tired of fishing dropped plugs out from the sheetmetal so I made up the tool pictured below. The tool is a piece of 1/2 inch PEX tubing cut to 7 inches long.

Now when I remove the plugs I first loosen the plug with the plug wrench then insert the PEX tubing over the plug, it is a tight but not too tight of a fit on my Bosch plugs, I then unscrew the plug and pull it out.

When I reinstall the plug with the PEX tool I can feel when it has grasped the threads correctly, then bring it up finger tight, remove the PEX and finish tighten with the plug wrench.

[JohnLiles]

Thanks for the quick response guys and the variety of the answers!
I went and borrowed one of the telescopic magnet on a stick things ( bit like the old pen style telescopic pointer we used to use in display board presentations back in the pre Powerpoint days . I borrowed it from the local independent Porsche garage , the guy also pointed out the problem with the never before used Klein plug wrench , the rubber had been put too far in , and he loaned me his one.

Retrieval with magnet did not take too long , and yes , what I called the back plug was the plug closest to the bulkhead , should have called it the front plug.

I did take the carburettors off to do all this , not necessary if you dont drop the plugs behind the tinware !

[Wes Bender]

Good on ya, John. Removing the carburetor probably made it a lot easier. If others decide to do the same, remember to plug or cover the top of the intake tubes (manifold to some) so that nothing can fall down there too. Remember, it was Murphy that was on duty in the first place and he's still lurking....

[David Jones]

John Lisles,
congratulations on finding the lost spark plug. Now tell us where you are so that next time we may be able to point to where you can get help not withstanding the fact that you are lucky enough to have a local independent Porsche tech.

[JohnLiles]

John Lisles,
congratulations on finding the lost spark plug. Now tell us where you are so that next time we may be able to point to where you can get help not withstanding the fact that you are lucky enough to have a local independent Porsche tech.

Hi David , I am in the mother country , aka 'UK' or 'GB' . It is an island off the coast of Europe , but was once part of the same land mass , and we are about to undergo our second separation from Europe.

Most of the time I live up in the North West Region , near Manchester , the rest of the time I am in Central London .

As far as 356ing goes , the bulk of owners and resources to support them are in South East England , the part previously known as Wessex and also the main stronghold of the Anglo Saxons before the Norman invasion of 1066.

In the North West most of the independent Porsche Garages work on fuel injected aircooled and watercooled 911s . The 356 is unknown territory unless they know their early VWs. I moved from London to the North West when working as a chemical engineer in the late 60's , and back then I had workshop manuals and some tools to work on my '62 S90 coupe. Unfortunately that coupe is long gone from me, and it looks like whatever skills I had acquired have gone too !