anyone ever use this on 08rt

http://www.carsparkplugs.com/view-product.aspx?productid=99

They're inexpensive. Just wondering if they're thin enough to fit down the hole to reach the plug

I have not used it. But I will wager that it will work. The tubular tend to be thinner walled, and it would appear that the reach is long enough to go in.
But, it cannot be used to torque the plugs.
dc

If you check the first post of this link you wil see what I use

Lots cheaper and works well

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=35445

That one works? Ok, I'm on my way to Harbor Freight.
dc

On both my wife's hex and my cam

Better to get something you can connect to your torque wrench.

Semper_Fi said:

If you check the first post of this link you wil see what I use

Lots cheaper and works well

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=35445

Click to expand...

The problem I'm having now with using a 5/8' spark plug socket with an extension is the extension want to disengage from the socket and the socket is still stuck tight on the plug. 5/8' is a bit tight . Maybe I'll take a file to it.

Does the socket you're using do that?

Grinder Floride, grinder. Oh, Sloride.
Use a grinder. Yes, it's not unusual. There are several known applications that actually require a slim line socket, which, if it cannot commercially be found, must result from grinding one down.
Don't use a cheap socket, and don't grind too much, or it will break.
Some of the sockets are just pathetically thick. Particularly the impact ones.
The metal tube variety is the thinnest, but usually those cannot be torqued.
dc

sloride said:

5/8' is a bit tight ... Does the socket you're using do that?

Click to expand...

No.

It's not the "5/8" it's the outside diameter of your socket. It's NOT sticking on the plug, it's jamming in the hole. BTW, Europeans refer to these sparkplugs as 16 mm.

Hazet 4766 left over from previous gasoline Mercedes works fine for me. Universal not needed and complicates setting torque, but it basically works. Cheapest source will be Mercedes dealer using 112 589 01 09 00

Snap on makes one, kinda expensive, but considering all the problems that have occurred with wrong socket it's worth the extra cost

Sorry
Snap on part #S9720KA
Socket spark plug deep 5/8
$56 ouch worth it though if you ever had a socket jam up

That SnapOn looks quite thick. However, it may work since it is 5/8" rather than 16mm, and thus doesn't get stuck in the head, because it is a tad smaller.
5/8" amounts to 15.875mm. And, if the plug fits into it, will work.
When those sockets get stuck into the head, usually, there is no problem if you can figure a way to stick something in there to pull it out. Coat hanger or something.
dc

Let me clarify. The socket isn't binding in the cylinder head plug hole. It's binding on the plug. Getting a spark plug out is no problem. Putting a plug in then pulling the wrench back out causes the socket extension to pull free of the socket. That's why I mentioned filing the inside of the 5/8 socket to loosen it up a bit
.
There's just more friction on the socket-plug than on the extension-socket

When I do get a plug out it's difficult to pull the spark plug out of the socket

Maybe I'll just weld the extension on the socket. That'll work

Hmmm. I never had the problem. I just did a car with those super deep plugs. The secret then is to unthread the plug fully, all the way out of the threads, then pull it out. Rather than pulling when there are still threads.
My problem with the car was the plug falls out of the plug wrench, as the foam rubber in there, which is meant to hold the plug into the socket, is old, greasy, and doesn't hold the plug any more. Bingo, a small magnet on a telescoping metal wand.
In fact, the old trick used to be, if you didn't have a plug wrench, stuff a little newspaper or other paper into the socket, to get the plug to stick into the socket. That way it doesn't drop out onto the ground and you can inspect it.
dc

I never start a plug using a socket, afraid of cross threading, use a straight piece of hose about 6" long over the ceramic end turning the hose starts the plug you'll feel if it isn't threading correctly
Hint a dab of spark plug antiseize on the threads works wonders for the next removal

I never had one I couldn't remove.
However, today I went over to lbumps garage so we could do his 12k service on his 09RT.
We each have about 3 spark plug sockets, and a few 5/8 and 16mm sockets. He grabbed a Crafstman 16mm; I told him be sure it doesn't bind up; we might have to grind it.
He pulled 2 plugs from the right, no problem, moved to the left and as he was backing it out from the lower plug, it bound up and refused to come out with 2 hours of banging on it.
Whereupon I suggested, and so we did, go to Starbucks, set up my computer, and search ADV threads on stuck plug wrenches. The only advice we got was ... bang it out.
After about 20 more minutes of beating on it with a hammer on vice grips, it rotated back in, then back out.
He then ground off about 1/64 of it, and we used it to replace the plugs. Oh, after that, he pulled the skinny tubular one out of his 1150 tool kit. I used that to start the new plugs. If you line them up straight, you have no problem.
I think that was lbumps problem. He exerted too much lateral force onto the socket, and it got skanked sideways in the hole in the head, and bound up, something fierce.
Use a ground down one, or the thin tubular.
dc

David13 said:

5/8" amounts to 15.875mm.

Click to expand...

You're kidding, right?

The "size" of the socket refers to the size of the nut it fits and has almost ZERO relationship to its outside diameter.

It's a German bike and you can take to the bank the BMW special tool is 16 mm.

sloride said:

Let me clarify. The socket isn't binding in the cylinder head plug hole. It's binding on the plug.

Click to expand...

This is simply incorrect. It is indeed binding in the hole. Test it off the bike. If you have problems you have a defective, perhaps Harbor Freight, socket.

Kent
I kid you not. I said ZERO about the outside diameter. What I mean when I say 16 mm is that is the official size of the plug in the bike. However, a 5/8" socket will fit it. That socket is INSIDE DIAMETER, TO FIT A 16 MM, of 15.875mm. In other words, there is space between the inside diameter of both sockets, to the point where either one will fit over, onto, and around the spark plug. That's the idea. We want to take out, and put in the plugs.
Now, the outside diameter has little or nothing to do with the inside diameter of a socket, in the sense that they make them of whatever thickness they want, without regard to the application that might require a thin walled socket, such as the German R1200RT.
The tubular steel plug wrenches, like Draper, or Wunderlich, or the BMW one, are thin, and probably have no problem.
My friend used a Craftsman metric 16mm INSIDE DIAMETER, or actually larger, outside diameter unknown. And got it horribly stuck in the lower plug hole.
I theorize he used too much lateral force, rather than holding the socket totally at the perfect angle to the surface, and it wedged sideways. I don't know. All I know is that this is a common problem (see Advrider), I never had it, but he did before my eyes.
dc

lkchris said:

This is simply incorrect. It is indeed binding in the hole. Test it off the bike. If you have problems you have a defective, perhaps Harbor Freight, socket.

Click to expand...

Perhaps not. There are two different issues and I believe you are conflating the two.

Issue 1: The OD of the socket is less than the ID of the channel in the valve cover. The socket gets stuck in the cover.

Issue 2: A short socket that needs an extension sticks on the plug. When you try to remove the socket the extension breaks away from the socket before the socket breaks away from the plug, leaving the socket "stuck" on the plug.

sloride is talking about issue 2. David13 is talking about issue 1.