Please be gentle with me, I love my old 51plate fiat brava - she's MINE, and is brilliant for getting me to the shops and to my dog training (Im disabled) but started having problems starting. My husband said she may need new spark plugs so he got a set and proceeded to change them....easy you thought? Hahah NOT!!! The first one broke and left the bottom bit in the hole so he says now it has to go into the garage and be drilled out? He says he cant do this as the "something" cover will have to be removed and he cant do that. Please anyone know what he's talking about and is this really a major job??? All I want is for my Masi to be back on the road

I have the same car, changing the plugs is a bit tricky because they are so far down in the engine. The only reason you could have a real problem is if he actually snapped off the metal base of the plug so there is no hex-shaped part for the plug spanner to grip. If he just snapped / smashed the porcelain body then the only problem would be getting all the bits out out of the hole without them going into the engine (when the plug does come out).

He needs to look down the hole with a torch and confirm the true situation. If he really has sheared off the plug and left the bottom thread stuck in the cylinder head then you need to find a good garage who will remove the cylinder head, extract the plug and rebuild with a new head gasket and cambelt. The belt may be due for changing anyway.

To be fair it is quite common to need to to a cylinder head repair after the head gasket fails, so the work and expense is probably justifiable anyway. And your starting problems could always be due to the head gasket needing doing....

If you like your car then it is worth keeping on top of maintenance and understanding the possible issues with a car of this age and being run on a budget.

where are you based ?,
we may have some local help for you..??!!,
Charlie - Oxford

Welcome to the forum,

Drilling the spark plus is a bad idea and non starter in my opinion. All the debris will fall into the engine and destroy it. It would only take one tiny bit of material to destroy the inside of the engine.

If its broken like this. You can use a easy out bolt remover. Some people say hammering an allen key in also works, but you would need a long one.

Well, after 5 months :bang: I finally have my cherished little Brava back on the road! Her spark plugs changed, brakes done, new tyres, brake linings, and loads of other things I don't know about and finally got to pick her from a local garage this morning. :worship::worship::worship: I am overjoyed, less rather a lot of pennies, but still chuffed to have her back on the road - now just need to find a code to get the radio working and Im off! Thankyou so much for all your help everyone. x

Hi again,
glad to hear you've got your Xmas pressie early

if you've not got a copy of the radio CODE,
look in the ICE section,

for a FF donation - Davren can look it up for you

Charlie