Glow plug hole #4 cross-threaded need opinion

Howdy,

I have a 2000 1.9L Jetta, just replaced glow plugs, and when installing #4 (the fourth from the left) I cross threaded it. ****.

I understand some of my options at this point.

#1 Take off head, drill/tap/heli-coil, which can be frightening.

#2 Get a new head.

Any other people encounter this problem or have any other suggestions/additional information that you think might help me out? Any TDI mechanics in central NY area?

Thanks folks.

Drill and tap in place. Use a disposable foam earplug in the bore to keep drilling and tapping swarf from entering the cylinder. Then use a vacuum to clean it after installing the HeliCoil and breaking the tang off. This it the one part you DO NOT want dropping in the cylinder. Fine aluminum is bad but stainless?

To remove the plug, a long wood screw, threaded into it, will do.

Now you need to do a EXCELLENT job in the drilling and tapping. Proper setup, magnifiers and careful drilling is a must but tapping for the Helicoil is also important.

If it's only a few threads, may I recommend a back-tap to restore the threads? M10 x 1.0. Link below. Look around, you can find better prices.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00996251000P?vName=Tools&cName=MechanicsTools&sName=Automotive%20Specialty%20Tools&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

See process here...this guy knows what he is talking about:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=221087

If it were me, I'd try to clean those threads up with a tap and if that didn't work, pull the head and helicoil it. I'd be very very cautious of getting aything into the engine.

If you put a little grease on the tap you will catch most of it. I always start the car with the glow plug out after tapping, it will blow that %@$# out of there.

Or it blows it into the turbo wreaking havoc. I saw a turbo a few weeks ago that suffered foreign matter damage.

roadhard1960 said:

Or it blows it into the turbo wreaking havoc. I saw a turbo a few weeks ago that suffered foreign matter damage.

Click to expand...

Not to be nit picky, ok, to be nit picky, it's foreign OBJECT damage, aka FOD. It's an aviation thing lol.