Blondie70

Old thread, but wanted to bring it up again to see how the plug change went.
It sure looks like a pain in the azz job to me ! Good thing it is not needed much.
Anybody did the plug change themselves? What about that manifold in the way?
Any info on how the job went?
Thanks, Pete

papa tiger

Manifold removes easily. U need a good spark plug wrench socket and extension that holds the plug well. Gear Wrench 80546 is an excellent choice.

cubangt

Ill be replacing mine this week since im on vacation, ill try and document what I had to do and maybe take some pics to help others. I went with the motorcraft plugs as replacements which come pre-gap.


Auto store only showed that the gap range was at .50 to .55 , so ill adjust mine to .52 prior to installing.


Hopefully the weather will be ok to take care before going back to work.

Blondie70

CubanGT that sounds great! I will sure be looking at those pics and your write-up also. Mine are good for a long time yet, but I am making a file on how to do it ahead of time. Good luck on the job !!!! Pete ps: very happy with my 3.7L

iFord

3.7 plug change hard to do? Noooooooooo! Say it ain't so Joe! I did my '02 5.4 in September, swore I'd get 3.7 next time just to avoid things like ridiculous spark plugs! Oh me, I'm done for boys.

cubangt

Well I did my plugs this morning, took right under 2hrs from prep to clean up. The hardest parts were 1 bolt and the wiring over that bolt.


I started with the easy side(driver side)
You'll need 8mm and 10mm sockets, long extension and short, flat head, needle nose, anti-seize, I think that was all I had out, I took a pic, but it was corrupt when I went to transfer, so I only have a few pics to show below.

Once you do the easy side, now comes the more time consuming part, removing the hoses and harnesses and unbolting the 8mm bolts.




This pic of the underside of the intake is to show no leaks or issues.



Here is the block without the intake, (one of the only good corrupt images I have)



in this pic you can see the bolt insert in the far back which is the bolt hole I was referring to that was a little difficult, my truck has the leveling kit and I only had a small 1 step step stool, so I had to use my swivel and 24" extention to get on to the bolt. But before that you will find that there is wiring that is secured to the intake right above the bolt, that has to come out in order to remove the intake completely. Once that is removed then that last bolt is easy to get to and break loose.


If all my images would have come out ok, I would be able to provide a step by step with pics.


I tried to remove and disconnect as little as possible.
Side note, on the intake there are 2 holes that look like there may be something in there to unbolt, but there is nothing in there you have to worry about.


There are only 7 8mm bolts you have to remove(and be remove I mean loosen from the motor, they will not come out of the intake, so don't try to actually remove them, there is only 1 which is in the middle and toward the center of the intake, that one will come out completely. but the others are held in the intake once you loosen.


Hope this helps someone else, if you have questions, just post them up and if I can ill try and help.

Blondie70

Cubangt, thanks for the great write-up and pics. I have saved this info.
Pete

parcours

Sorry to bring this back up.

Did you replace the gasket on the intake?

jeff_e

I changed the gasket, was only $20 at the dealer and i wanted to have it just in case. The old one seemed okay, could have been re-used.

Just did my plugs this morning... sorry for bringing up an old thread.
173,000 km... I know, im late..

They all came out okay, just a bit of a creak during the first turn out. I used the sp-520's, they all came gapped very close to .051, so i left them alone. The old plugs were 16 to 18 thou above that and I've never had any misfire codes.



Intake gasket

Midnightcity

Is the new one longer? Any change in how the truck's running after the change? Thx for the pics.