# Am I just a pansy or...



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

MetalMatty said:


> Okay so I had a day off today and due to the lovely snow/ice storm didn't want to risk driving 2.5+ hours to my friends house. Especially since there was no real purpose to me going. But my boredom did eventually get the best of me and I decided to see where my spark plugs were gapped at. I bought the car about a week ago with 24,005 miles on it. My MPGs are fine and power seems fine as well, but boredom got the better of me.
> 
> ANYWAY, I unburied my car from the **** near foot of hard snow it was under, and dragged myself to the local parts store (just a NAPA). Bought a spark plug socket, ratchet and gapper, etc. Got home and popped the cover off and removed the two T40 screws holding the spark plug... holder... thing (what IS that called?) and started to try and remove the boots. I tried for a good 10-15 minutes, pulling and wiggling and at one point VERY lightly prying with a screwdriver. I never even got ONE boot out.
> 
> ...


It shouldn't be that hard to get it off lol. There are only two T30 torx bits holding it down. Past that, it should literally come right off. Try running the engine for a couple of minutes.


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## sx sonic (Nov 25, 2013)

My coilpack gets pretty stuck in there. Sometimes Takes quite a bit of wiggling and pulling. I usually start at the drivers side since It's easier to get purchase on that side and then work my way to the passenger side.

Note: once you get it off look inside the plug boots and make sure the little spring isn't bound against the boot. They usually get hung up during removal and a small pick or screwdriver is neccesary to free any that are bound up.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

Do you have the 1.8 or 1.4? either one it should not be that difficult. The 1.8 has a plastic piece on the one end that must be removed to give you easier access to the coil rail. As XR said the Torx screws are T30s. Either engine, just start at one end (the open end) and use a screw driver to start pulling the rail up just to get it moving. Once it starts you should be able to wiggle it loose and remove it from the engine.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The 1.8 is quite a bit harder than the 1.4T. You do know that your thread title is just screaming for a smart ass answer ...


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## MetalMatty (Jan 30, 2014)

It's the 1.4T. I had it running/driving for probably 10 minutes prior to attempting this. Removed both screws and could not for the life of me get it. I'll have to give it another shot but those buggers were in there tight. 

When I used the screwdriver to help me a bit, I got the drivers boot a little bit out but as soon as I took away the prying it plopped right back in. 

Maybe I am just a pansy ( Of course, having giant hands doesn't really help when I'm trying to squeeze my fingers in between the rail and valve cover.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

MetalMatty said:


> It's the 1.4T. I had it running/driving for probably 10 minutes prior to attempting this. Removed both screws and could not for the life of me get it. I'll have to give it another shot but those buggers were in there tight.
> 
> When I used the screwdriver to help me a bit, I got the drivers boot a little bit out but as soon as I took away the prying it plopped right back in.
> 
> Maybe I am just a pansy ( Of course, having giant hands doesn't really help when I'm trying to squeeze my fingers in between the rail and valve cover.


Having big fingers will cause an issue. Do you have any gloves? My mechanic's gloves are rubber lined at the finger tips and makes getting some traction on the coil pack edges a lot easier.


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## MetalMatty (Jan 30, 2014)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Having big fingers will cause an issue. Do you have any gloves? My mechanic's gloves are rubber lined at the finger tips and makes getting some traction on the coil pack edges a lot easier.


Hmm... I personally don't but I'm willing to bet that one of the technicians at my work do... maybe I'll steal a pair for an hour or so


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## Vetterin (Mar 27, 2011)

Don't you miss the old days when you could just grab the boot and give it a twist to loosen it?
I've had my coil pack off probably 10-15 times by now and never had that problem......but I'm sure it's because I've removed my coil pack 10-15 times. When you do get it off make sure you load those boots up with dielectric grease before you reinstall it.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I remember the first time I pulled my coil pack out I tried pulling all four boots out at one time and couldn't. I pull starting at one end and working them up.


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## Mordsith_T (Oct 5, 2013)

I found it very hard. It took my husband and I both to get the darn thing off. So no, it isn't just you. We had to work it at one end and then the rest seem to give once the first popped partially out.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Easiest way to remove the coil pack is to grasp both ends and just start wiggle-rocking (yes, just made that up so there!) it back and forth. Pull on one end then the other, rinse - repeat till you have it out. It doesn't take too much force this way.

Also, please note that inside each plug boot, there is a spring. Take a precision screwdriver and align the springs up straight before putting the coil pack back on. They have a tendency to stick on one side, there must be a small ridge inside the boot that the spring gets stuck on when removing the coil pack.

Good luck!


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

Vetterin said:


> Don't you miss the old days when you could just grab the boot and give it a twist to loosen it?


Yeah, except I had the same problem with the boots on my 3.8L V6 on my Impala. When I went to change the plugs at 100k miles, I could only get one of the six boots off despite having decent grip and leverage on all of them. Even my much stronger older brother couldn't budge them. I finally took it to a local shop, and the guy told me that was common after that many miles as they almost fuse themselves to the plugs.

I can't say anything about the Cruze as I never tried to pull the plugs on mine when I had the 1.4.

At least you have easy access to them. On my Subaru on one side you have to actually loosen the motor mounts and jack up that side of the engine from underneath to be able to get to them.


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## ehousel (Nov 1, 2013)

i had trouble pulling mine off in 85 Fahrenheit so if there is snow and ice i would assume it is far to cold due to the contraction of the rubber to the springs holding onto the spark plugs.


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## MetalMatty (Jan 30, 2014)

ehousel said:


> i had trouble pulling mine off in 85 Fahrenheit so if there is snow and ice i would assume it is far to cold due to the contraction of the rubber to the springs holding onto the spark plugs.


Yea I'm just gonna blame the temperature. It's been below 25 degrees for many days now and doesn't seem to be changing soon. I'm gonna see if I can park my car in our reconditioning bay tomorrow, since there's a propane heater blowing right into the middle of it. Figure I can pop the hood and let the heater pound on it then get it up to operating temp. and try again.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I wouldn't recommend pulling the coil pack when it's real cold. When I swapped in my copper plugs I actually started the car and let the top of the engine get warm to the touch before I started working.


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