Changing Spark Plugs with Factory Tool?

[VaSteve]

So I decided that Friday night would be the big attempt. My stuff showed up from Pelican and I found out that the spark plug socket I had was a 5/8's - too dang small!! Then I remembered that there was a factory tool.

Good grief! Do you people actually use that thing??? That two part dealy was such a pain!! Because it was Friday night, I loose threaded the plugs in and went to Sears this morning for a normal socket. It's all better now .

[no substitute]

I believe the factory spark plug tool fancied by most, is the earlier solid, single piece model. I have one, but haven't tried it yet. I also have the later two piece external spring tool, but haven't tried it either.

[Early_S_Man]

Below is the best spark plug tool EVER for a 911 engine, the famous 'Klein 21'!!!

There are several aspects to the Klein tool that make it and the accompanying 10 mm Allen wrench that drives it, perfect:

1. One piece, and one piece, alone, goes into the cylinder head, and sticks out, fully 'reachable' ... by three to five digits of one hand, by feel, in the dark, or out of sight, on a hot engine ... so no disasters of the nature of a recenct thread can occur in your garage, or by the side of the road!

2. The flared, knurled end gives perfect control by fingers to start or remove the plug after loosening torque has been applied with the Allen wrench. There is no chance of cross-threading a new or used plug when installing it by finger power alone.

3. Because final torqueing is done by a single hand on the short Allen wrench ... overtightening the spark plug is highly unlikely ... hot or cold engine!

4. It came with the car, free, and will last for a lifetime ... how many tools can you say that about?

One final note ... though several people have posted that it can be used to loosen lug nuts ... 21 mm, or 13/16" is NOT 19 mm, and such abuse is LUNACY!!!

Unfortunately, they aren't available new any longer ... though they do show up on eBay from time to time, sometimes identified only as 'Porsche mystery wrench!'

[Jim Richards]

Never, ever use a spark plug socket, unless you like to go fishing for it from time to time. The factory tool rocks.

[no substitute]

My solid K21 was purchased from e-bay a few months back for about $25, NOS no less, but had to supply my own Allen key. "The K21 is out there" if you look.

[ubiquity0]

Not sure what you mean by the "two part" factory spark plug tool. The socket & the allen wrench? IMO this is the perfect toolo for the job. Cuts a 3 hour job fooling w/ generic sockets, extrensions & duct tape into 15 minutes!

[speeder]

Plugs go in and out quickly w/ the Klein tool, but I'll have to admit that before I discovered it in my tool kit, I never experienced any major drama using a normal plug socket and short extension. Sometimes I would have to extract it w/ my Snap-on 90deg. bent needle nose pliers, (molegrips for you teabags), , but no big deal.

[dmcummins]

I just use an extension duct taped to the socket. Ive thought about just welding the extention on.

So far the tape has worked for me.

[no substitute]

Originally posted by ubiquity0
Not sure what you mean by the "two part" factory spark plug tool. The socket & the allen wrench? IMO this is the perfect toolo for the job. Cuts a 3 hour job fooling w/ generic sockets, extrensions & duct tape into 15 minutes!

I think the two piece tool referred to is the more recent evolution of the Klein 21. The one piece tool was superceeded somewhere just before the SC I think. The two piece tool has a pivot/swivel in the middle, and a coil spring over this joint area to prevent it from flopping around. Both use an Allen key in the end, although the swivel is triple square where the key goes in. I believe there is an even a more recent evolution also marked Klein 21. Given the raves about the original, one has to wonder why they changed it.

[gerard vaglio]

The factory tool that came with my sc makes changing plugs incredibly easy.

Instead of getting frustrated with sockets that separate and have to be fished out the factory tool allows you to enjoy changing plugs. It also makes it nearly impossible to mess up. No cross threading, no over tightening, no wasting time.

I've tried using sockets and hated it. Once you get use to this funny looking tool you'll quickly build up a facility that you'll really enjoy.

[VaSteve]

Wow. I'm really surprised. I have the nice factory tool with the spring and all that. I bought a nice 3" extension with the slider to release the socket and didn't lose the spark plug socket once. For some reason, I felt I couldn't get the proper grip with the factory tool. Oh, well in 10,000 miles, I can try again.

But damnn, if my hamstrings aren't killing me from bending over!!!

[Wayne 962]

I use one of these for my BMW:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/TOOL/POR_TOOL_CAT060_pg8.htm (this one is the smaller, BMW size)



Never had a problem - got one of the big ones (Porsche) and the smaller ones (BMW).

-Wayne

[ubiquity0]

These are hard to find. I suggest somebody here should grab this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42606&item=7902409068&rd=1

[cegerer]

I don't think I've ever seen a post on Pelican regarding any sort of problem using the Klein 21 - it is, perhaps, the perfect tool. Other spark plug tools? Just do a search and the results speak for themselves ......

[rs911t]

the Klein 21 - it is, perhaps, the perfect tool.

'Nuf said.

[911pcars]

Well, not perfect. I've been using mine for a long time and have noticed the rubber sleeve doesn't grab the plug as snugly as it used to - maybe something about it being 35 years old. Just wondering if there's a readily available replacement available.

Sherwood

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by 911pcars
Well, not perfect. I've been using mine for a long time and have noticed the rubber sleeve doesn't grab the plug as snugly as it used to - maybe something about it being 35 years old. Just wondering if there's a readily available replacement available.

Sherwood

Sherwood? You nailed it..rubber gets old. I've seen posts suggesting that 5 year old tires are too old, but a 35 year old spark plug wrench is still expected to hold the plug? With all respect to Warren, there is a recent addition to my tool roll. The middle setting of this tool is an almost exact length match to the factory tool...use fingers to insert or remove, use a stubby 3/8" drive ratchet instead of the factory tool hex wrench...buy it now for $37, or bid $32 and you'll probably "win". That's what I recently did, purchased as a gift for a friend.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43994&item=2478797530&rd=1

[masraum]

I used the tool that came with my '88, yes it is the later tool with the spring and the pivot, yes it works amazingly well. The only thing that I do differently is that I will use a 3/8" ratchet with an allen socket. The allen wrench works well, but can be a pain if the plugs aren't easily spun with your fingers once loose. I have to find out what size the plugs are on my miata, I may have to buy a Klein 21 for that since the plugs are recessed way down between the cams similar to a 911 engine. What size are the 911 plugs 5/8" or 13/16", I can't remember??

[pwd72s]

13/16" in '72...new "luxury" cars may be different...Okay, technically, 20 mm...but 13/16 works...despite being slightly off...VERY slightly..kind of like 3/4" and 19mm...

[Early_S_Man]

Well, guys ... I'm sure there's a perfect-sized, fabric-reinforced hose out there that can replace the rubber insert, though I haven't searched for it, yet!