[kautiongsr]

Lol yeah it's a pain to remove that piece ... I use wd40 let it sit about 10 min... Then with long pick work it out

[TexE90]

I just removed the valve cover and replaced my gasket while I was at it

Next time, I'll be using one of those extra long needle nose pliers.

[sammy_0559]

Originally Posted by TexE90

I just removed the valve cover and replaced my gasket while I was at it

Next time, I'll be using one of those extra long needle nose pliers.

was gonna say the same thing lol good job

[bimsconsin]

This happened to me on 2 out of 6 on my 2010 335i with 48k miles. I was really, really surprised that it was not mentioned in the DIYs I found, because it was difficult for me to pull every single one.

The first one I dug out with a long needle nose in tiny chunks. That took a good 45 minutes. At the end, I ran into the problem that I had pulled everything I could grab with the pliers, and the rest pushed down the plug and was no longer reachable in the small space around the lower part of the plug. I got worried that I would snap it with how much pressure I was using to get at the rubber. This ultimately led me to the solution.

With the rubber loose, I figured it would not take pliers-grip to extract - and it had ripped on one side so that it wasn't all the way around. I bent a hanger from my closet to have a small hook on the end and used that to fish it out.

The second one I cut with a long knife. Then used the hanger. It was out in less than 5 minutes. For the cut, I put the blade part facing slightly angled and away from the plug, and cut toward the side by firm but gentle wiggling and pressing down toward the engine; that caused it to split in half, and it was then very easy to fish out with the hanger.

[Owens84qv]

Originally Posted by kautiongsr

Lol yeah it's a pain to remove that piece ... I use wd40 let it sit about 10 min...

Happened to me today. I was making good progress and then coil #4 gave a lot of resistance. I knew something wasn't right because 1-3 came off pretty easily. Called my friend who's a BMW mechanic and he said spray with WD40, let it sit (work it around the boot with a long screw driver) and then try to pull it out. Still cost me ~ 2 hours of down time plus a new coil that won't arrive till Monday.

[Asps91]

I encountered the same thing today on a plug and coil change in cylinder 5 (pain is the ass as the brace is right over it)

I welded a stainless screw to an old screwdriver I had laying around. Screw in into the rubber, pull and it comes straight out, no hassle.

I'm usually not this creative lol

[dbjb]

^ Great move Macgyver

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by Asps91

I encountered the same thing today on a plug and coil change in cylinder 5 (pain is the ass as the brace is right over it)

I welded a stainless screw to an old screwdriver I had laying around. Screw in into the rubber, pull and it comes straight out, no hassle.

I'm usually not this creative lol

Attachment 1140864

Thats pretty cool.

Originally Posted by dbjb

^ Great move Macgyver

Nah MacGyver would have used his belt and some bubble gum LOL

mike

[blackturbo]

Ive had this happend to me when i was doing regular maintenance. It was so annoying lol

[Jklad]

This sucks so bad. Changing coils is a 30 min job that could potentially turn into a couple hour ordeal if this happens. Ugh.

[slenser]

I think the forceps is the best idea. I was going to suggest that, but I see Owens84qv already did.

[runriderive]

Put me down for five broken boots out of the six. Bought my e90 with ~53k on it a few months ago, and decided I would work through some of the normal maintenance items as I assumed they had never been done - including plugs. A routine job this was not. One long forceps, a long screwdriver, a wildly modified wire coat hanger, a shop vac with a straw duct taped to the inlet hose, six hours, and many worthless pieces of rubber boot later my plugs (and now coils too) are fresh and the car runs well. And the new coil boots have ample dielectric grease - oh yes. Thankfully when this started to look ugly a friend, with several car restorations and kit car builds under his belt, lent me hand.

I appreciate having found this existing thread as it gave much needed perspective. I'm definitely a weekend warrior when it comes to car / motorcycle maintenance, so this was new and frustrating.

Will try to attach a picture of the plugs after removal showing the remaining boot needed to be "cut" from the ceramic of the plug. Rear-most on the left, front-most on the right.

[Fariedk]

Had the same problem the other day. Pulled it off with a pair of needle nose pliers..

[Aashenfox]

I've seen it mentioned in a few coil replacement DIYs to grease theboots liberally to prevent this, but not much help if whoever did the last replacement didn't bother.

[CYL]

So, putting WD40 into the spark plug well is fine?

[Miller335]

Are you guys just pulling straight up or are you twisting them a bit before you pull them out?

I've had issues with this on other cars in the past and the twist technique has served me well over the years.

[335is-dct]

lol this has happened to so many of us. i had to go buy a really long pair of needle nose, and worked it out with those and a sharp flat head screwdriver. tried to suck up any remaining rubber bits with a shop vac.

switched to delphi coils and greased the ends of em so hopefully dont have to deal with that pita again.