1995 Toyota Camry Spark plug won't remove

CHHE

MEMBER
1995 TOYOTA CAMRY
4 CYL

My car was cranking and not starting periodically and I went to replace my spark plugs to try to fix this problem. I used a 5/8'' spark plug socket and all the plugs unscrewed just fine except one. When I removed the spark plug wire it was coated in oil. Then when I placed the socket down the hole to remove the spark plug it wouldn't grip the spark plug. Almost as if it wasn't able to go down far enough. When I pushed downwards and turned in hopes of it attaching to the plug it felt like something was rubbery/squishy down there preventing the socket from going far enough down and surrounding the plug. How do I fix this and what is wrong? Would this cause a car to crank but not start. The car starts fine when it is cold, but if you try to start it 10 minutes after having driven it for a while it won't start. You have to leave it for an hour to cool before it will start again.

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,741 POSTS

There's probably a piece of old spark plug wire boot stuck down by the spark plug. You might fish that out with a pick or long flat-blade screwdriver.

A common cause of a crank / no-start is the crankshaft position sensor or camshaft position sensor. Both of them often fail by becoming heat-sensitive, then they work again after they cool down for about an hour. Start by reading and recording the diagnostic fault codes. If there is no code set, you'll need a scanner to view live data to see if one of those signals drops out just before the engine stalls.

When you have an engine-related problem, you need to list which engine you have.