I bought a 2006 XLT Supercrew 4X4 with 12,000 miles on it 2 weeks ago. I joined this forum and found a thread about the dreaded spark plug change. Should I go ahead and change the plugs out now with Champion plugs or wait until 60,000 miles before replacing?

Thanks for any opinions on this matter

Mark

 

Its way early for a plug change. And as for dreaded...it's not that bad. Yes you can break a plug but it can be prevented. When the engine is still hot or at least very warm, loosen the plugs slightly (1/4 to 1/2 turn) and spray a little bolt buster down in there. Give it 15 mins to do its thing and the plugs should come right on out. However I do not recommend installing the new plugs and torquing them with the engine hot. And last but not least get yourself some Autolite HTO's. Awesome plug IMO.

 

Thanks for the reply Blown Ford, I'll take your advice. I tend to worry more than I should.

Mark

 

i had the dreaded spark plug problem at 70,000 miles, bought the $100.00 extruder and it worked just fine. my opinion is change them asap as to hopefully avoid this problem...

 

My manual states 100k before a plug change, so what the hurry. Is it different for the '06 motor? Just had the neighbor, who is a Ford tech, do them and there was no problem. I think that the issue is a bit over blown.

 

Its an issue with carbon build up. And yes it probably is over blown. A little caution never hurt and breaking one is a bitch to say the least. I don't see any benefit in changing them early as the next set will do the same thing.

 

Correct me if I am wrong,but arent the replacement plugs a 1 piece design as opposed to the 2 piece that came in it? If so,it shouldnt happen the next time.

 

Go with Motorcrafts when you replace them, that's what I just went with. Some people have had problems with the Champions after a few thousand miles.

If you go with a good gas that has decent cleaning properties you will be ok running it near 100K miles, if you use cheap gas from wally world you will see more problems getting them out.

 

nah still 2 piece... put in champion plugs and truck was running awkward... so I went to ford, bought the motorcraft ones, and now is running a lot better

but if you asking about replacing the champion plugs are one piece, they are, but they didn't run correctly in my truck... (06 Screw 5.4)

 

ford does make a corrected 1 piece plug for the 5.4, they caught the problem in late 07 so the 08 models should have them in from the factory