sammyg

After reading just about everything I could find on changing the plugs in my '07 Supercrew with the 5.4 engine I knew I did not need the aggravation of trying to do it myself.My friend of 25 plus years runs a very reputable independant repair shop so I bought the correct set of Motorcraft plugs and a set of Motorcraft coils. The truck has 91,000 miles on it and I figured it was due as it had a pretty good miss in it. I took it to him last Wednesday morning and he said he would start on it Thursday so he could let them soak over night. Well I stopped by this morning and so far every plug has broke off,several have left some of the porceline in the tube.And,to top that off,on the number eight plug,there is something down in the tube that prevents him from getting a socket on the spark plug.He used a mirror and a flashlight to show me and while you can see something in there it is hard to tell what it is.He's tried blowing it out with air and tried to get it out with a pick but so far has had no luck.I received the letter in the mail concerning the class action law suit and told him to make sure he documents everything he has to do.When these 5.4 engines are running good they're fine,but when they don't ,wow. It is a **** poor design in my opinion and the Ford engineers that designed this thing should be shot.No telling how much this will cost me.Anyhow just needed to gripe a bit,thanks for listening to my sob story.

Martian

The dirt and mud and **** that managed to get down into the hole caked around my plugs and stopped the socket from getting around the plug. Getting that out wasn't fun. I had to pull it out tiny bit by bit with basically the end of a small flathead screwdriver just to get any grip on the socket. Sucks that ALL of yours broke, though... I find that strange...

Adam013085

How is he removing the plugs (socket, impact, etc)? I too find it strange all plugs broke. I think I'd change whatever tool I was using after the first 2 or 3 broke.....

Blckwlf

Just did one plug myself after having the plugs all changed last month. Misfire in cylinder 1.

Plug came out really easy, like didn't even need a ratchet to loosen it. Had water everywhere in that channel... Not too sure how it got there...

sammyg

When I was by his shop yesterday morning he was working on it and he showed me the tools he was using,an extra deep Snap-on 9/16" spark plug socket and a 3/8 drive swivel head ratchet.

tareed94

That's strange that they're all breaking. I've done mine twice and only broke one plug. The Lisle tool can remove the broken bits even with the porcelain in the tube. Much better than pulling the heads. I've done two different methods, one time I used an impact, the second I used a ratchet. The impact broke one but after removal it looked very brittle and had a different part number/batch number than the others. Looked like the previous owner had gotten lazy and replaced 7/8 of the plugs.

sammyg

I stopped by his shop this afternoon right at closing time and he was using the Lisle tool to get what was left of one of the plugs out. He has worked on all of the plugs except the ones in cylinders 4 and 8,and number 8 is the one I mentioned earlier as having an object down in the tube preventing him from getting a socket on the plug.Of the 6 plugs he has worked on all 6 have broken off.He showed me the pieces,and told me he has never seen this before.He said in his experience he will usually see one or two at the most break off. Another thing about the whole situation is that it is a two man shop and his other mechanic fell from a ladder and broke his left wrist so he's left to do all the work.I asked him if it would be better to take it somewhere else before he started and he told me he could get it done,even after me telling him I needed the truck by this Friday.After talking with him today I'm not so sure he'll be able to get it done by the time I need it. I've known this guy for close to 30 years and he's always done good work for me in the past,but now I'm wishing I would have just taken the truck to another shop or even a Ford dealer to get this done.

HeathMc

I'm sure it's just a fluke. If he's always done good work for you it will be fine. I replaced mine at 90 something thousand. Started out with a impact and broke my first 2. Switched to a ratchet and broke 2 of the next 6. It's just luck if the draw I think. I used all the methods in the tsb.

sammyg

My buddy got my truck finished up yesterday and I picked it up as they were closing for the day. I guess I was just worrying too much about him getting it back to me on time.I am scheduled to leave on a hunting trip Sunday and needed my truck.I took some pics of the spark plugs to show you and in the pics there is a shot of what was in the tube on the number 8 cylinder,it's a small metal clip and if I had to guess has been in there since the engine was built. My apologies for all the whining.

Adam013085

If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay?