plug spanner

is there a rubber washer in the original plug spanner for when you are lifting the plug out to stop it keep dropping back down the hole and what size is the spanner thanks

Yup! In the OEM tools it is.

right thanks for that I thought that there would have to be one im going to have to invest

most spark plug sockets have a rubber insert to catch the plug. Halfods sell them for around a fiver if you already have a 3/8 set to use them with.

that's a bit cheaper than wemoto theirs are £13, anyway I will have to be doing I need one

I think possibly the 'official' purpose of the rubber bit is just to protect the plug from the metal socket. I say this because the only spark plug socket I've encountered that actually grips the plug enough to pull it out is the one that came in the toolkit. I lost it ages ago and every other one I tried didn't grip the plug at all. So I got a new one from Ling's!

ok so how much is the lings one ?

Sixteen pounds...

right thanks

Honda part number is 89216-KY2-700 – you might be able to find it cheaper somewhere else. They come up on eBay sometimes.

great stuff thanks for your help jchesshyre

I'm pretty sure the rubber bit is for gripping the plug.

You might be able to use a bit of hosepipe instead - start undoing it with the normal socket and then switch to the hosepipe to finish it off and grab the plug when it comes loose.

That's a bit of a faff ET.  On the occasions I've used a socket with a perished rubber or had to remove a broken plug I've just fished the old one out with a pair of long nose pliers.

Fitting new ones is a bit more tricky when the socket don't hold the plug but still possible if you screw anti clockwise first to seat it in the thread properly.

I think I will go for a proper one and make the job easy

eternally_troubled wrote:I'm pretty sure the rubber bit is for gripping the plug.

According to Halfords (the fount of all knowledge, obviously), 'Rubber insert retains and protects spark plug'. LOL.

I think I just got the idea that it's primarily to protect it from once reading something along the lines of 'make sure you use a proper spark plug socket that has a rubber insert so you don't damage the plug' and inferred that that's its main purpose. Bad logic IMHO.

Ironically, the spark plug socket in my Halfords socket set was one of the many I tried which *didn't* grip the plug at all, however hard I pressed it down. I can't describe what a relief it was going back to the OEM one that does grip it 

Ive have a halfords 120 or 140 piece rachet set 10yrs , its taken serious abuse over years and keeps going but plug spannner for fireblade and cb dont hold in plug all the time, i use a plug spanner out of brothers teng  rachet set it keep plug in socket and doesnt fall out, its only complaint ive had with halfords tools