coolride

Anyone have good , or bad luck with other brands of coils?

WIF-150

I just put a set of the global automotive coils in. Bought the 10 pack for $60 off eBay. Tons of threads about how these are good for the price. We'll see I guess.

TexasMustang

$380 for 8 sp515 plugs and 8 motorcraft coils is the best price I found.

coolride

I checked the codes on my truck, expecting to see a misfire code of two. There was one for random misfire. But worse was the cam codes. I think maybe i have cam phaser issues. I have to look into it more. I cleared the codes and drove around a while today. Most of the time it runs good, but sometimes it shutters and acts like it is skipping, and it will clear up with a little rpm. Engine light came back on before I went 40 miles. Code P0022, for cam timing issue. Before I cleared them it had 2 cam codes.
If this needs phasers I think I will do the phaser delete. It won't be an issue again. Never liked this system from day one. I've seen trucks with new phasers end up back at Ford a few months later for another one. I don't know why, but it makes me not trust them!

vintageman

If you have the P0022 code, before I jumped to the phasers, I would change the vct solenoid on the drivers side. If you have the old ones, the new ones are an upgraded version although I dont know what was upgraded in them. I had the P0012 code, changed out both vct solenoids because I hadnt already changed them, then did an oil and filter change and have been good for the last couple months with no error code. As far as the COPs, I agree with getting the motorcraft ones, these trucks are really picky but I also know others that have used aftermarket COPs and have had no issues.
Good luck
Tom

coolride

Good point on trying the VCT solenoid. It might be worth a shot. I was looking at Livernois Motorsports cam phaser lock kit. It is $699. Locks the phasers and gives you a tune to make the engine run right with locked phasers. That will end any future phaser issues with the entire VCT system. It is a little expensive but if you spend $130 per VCT solenoid and then end up doing phasers later it has me into the engine twice and heading into the $5-600 range not including the time to pull valve covers twice. I'm not sure it is the best option but it puts and end to the fussy VCT system this model of 5.4 has.
It looks like you have to pull valve covers to change those solenoids. Can you do pull the plug out of the valve cover and swap the solenoid that way? Or am I right, cover has to come off?

coolride

We got a bit off topic with the original post, sorry!!

I see that there are plugs for these trucks now that won't break. Any idea if there is a way to tell what you have in your engine visually from the top without pulling the plug? My truck has some miles on it, and has had plugs replaced before, but the PO didn't tell me much aside from the fact he changed them once a long time ago. Could be 100K miles on these now.

Bruce3966

Do them yourselves. I just did mine and I would highly suggest you use an impact wrench like I and so many others have done. I have a 07' with 150,000 with original plugs. Cold engine, pulled coils, vacuumed out plug area with small tube connected to vacuum cleaner, then sprayed YIELD in the plug cavity, let sit for 5 minutes and hit it with the impact. All 8 came out like a breeze. Total time to change all was 6 hours!

I just put in ACCEL coils because it's the only thing anybody had in my small town and I would highly suggest OEM Motorcraft now. Only have about 100 miles on truck since plugs and coils and today with wet roads I had a miss fire. I will be replacing them all with OEM Motorcraft and the cheapest I can find them is about $45.00 each which isn't too bad (8 coils for $360.00). I can't take the chance of a miss fire (or more) when I am pulling my 6000 lb sailboat.

coolride

Sounds like it is worth a try. I would hope the PO would have been clever enough to use anti seize when he replaced the plugs last time. I read that a penetrant called Kroil is popular for freeing the plugs up. Sounds like patience is key with these plugs. Break them loose, soak them in a carbon cutter, or penetrating oil, and let them soak a while, then pull them. I suppose having the broken plug remover kit around isn't a bad idea either!

Bruce3966

I bought the Kroil but turned out the YIELD worked better. YEILD is an awesome product and freed up the rustiest bolts on B52 bombers in the military! We swore by that stuff for years.