HELP! broken air injection tube on 2.7

[mikeferg75]

OK, so I actually have two busted...

Backstory, removing smog, and air injection, putting on SSI's ect. looking back I should have just left he tubes and capped the tube ends...

Two came out easy, Two broke with very little force and two tubes are still in the heads not wanting to come out, and me fearing I will break them as well...

Last night I started with a easy out to see if I would be lucky, I've been soaking them with PBlaster all week. No luck with the easy out, so the next step was to drill in and tap in the flute type straight rod.

All went good and I drilled in straight. No nicked threads ect. Rod tapped in and I slid on the nut to the rod. Three attempts later and using as much force as I dare, I gave up and went to bed, this thing is really in there.

So now the rod is in there, It tapped in pretty easy so at this point I'm certain I could remove the rod.

My thoughts are this, I stopped with the socket when I thought I was putting to much side load on the flute/rod...

My next thought is to use a impact drill, to remove the side loading from the equation? I know at this point, I risk breaking the rod itself. when I drilled I actually went far enough to totally go into the closed portion of the injection tube witch then busted, and the rod is tapped all the way through now. So if the rod breaks I'm fairly certain I could back out the broken section from the exhaust port downward.

I am using Map gas, but really doubt I am getting enough heat into the head to make much of a difference.

I wish I had pictures, but someone must have been in my shoes before, really looking for someone with expertise to give me some good advice. Any thoughts on going to the impact drill, to try and break it loose?


Ferg

[ossiblue]

I'm having a hard time visualizing the extractor you are using, especially the part where you say, "...Rod tapped in and I slid on the nut to the rod." I guess I'm not familiar with that tool. I can only offer a guess. Could you have tapped in so far beyond the injector that the extractor is biting into the wall of the cylinder? Would it be possible to re-tap a slightly larger extractor and seat it inside the injector at a very shallow point? Finally, would it be possible--if the worst happens--to drill out the injector completely, retap the head and plug it with a solid brass plug?

Sorry I couldn't help but I hope these suggestions lead others to provide an answer. Keep us informed, please.

[mikeferg75]

I thought of what you said, Since I had a good complete air injection tube out, I compared the rod to the tube end and don't think it would expand it to hold tight against the head. The rod is still smaller.

I put the rod in as far as I did to lessen the side loading created by using the wrench, I may pull the rod more shallow like you suggest when and if I use a impact drill on it.

Here is the type of extractor I'm using.

[ossiblue]

Thanks for the photo, now it makes sense.

Actually, from your response, it seems the straight flute extractor you show would be less likely to bind/expand the injector walls than would the tapered easy out, as long as it's not biting into the head.

I'm at a loss as to why it's so difficult. My mechanic removed the injectors from my 75 (which were original and had never been removed) with no particular problems. How many miles on your car? Maybe that accounts for the difficulty--lots of time to corrode in the threads.

Again, sorry I can't offer more help but I'd be doing the exact same thing you propose--use the impact drill. Just one caution, if the extractor breaks, it may be even that much more difficult to get it removed due to the hardness of the alloy.

Good luck, and keep us up to date.

[mikeferg75]

I'm at a loss myself, the car has 95k original miles, and all indications that it has had a top end in the past, it is a 2.7 after all...

Heck two of them came out using just my fingers...

I sure hope the others don't put up this kind of fight.

Ferg