ak_cowboy

how'd it go?

rbh32

Mine ended up going well, but with two horrible time consuming snags. Plugs 7 and 8's metal sleeves came off, but didn't break. Had to break them to get the Lisle tool to work. Tool worked great once I figured that out.

tomdjr00

Just finished mine! None broken, what a relief! Thank you all for your input and advice! I think the key is preparation (I did Seafoam treatment 3 times over the last few weeks) and patience (did the carb cleaner and penetrating fluid combo and let it sit, crack the plug, let it sit and slowly turn them out).
2004 F150 with 108K, first plug change and it runs like it's new again.

bluemike

I'd pay twice the price for a repair manual if you wrote it. Concise, accurate and to the point. I'm gonna buy the broken plug kit, cheap insurance and can sell it on ebay if I don't need it.
It's a shame nowadays, I'm all for supporting local stores but WOW, I can get the same thing for 1/2 the price and wait a couple days............what does a guy do?
Thank you for taking the time to write an awesome article. I'll be looking for more of your work

Bruce3966

UGH--I hate seeing this. I am doing mine this weekend I hope. I plan to warm the truck up to operating temp, wait about 20 minutes for cool down, spray around the plug with Aero kroil and then hit it with the impact wrench which several have done and they come right out. Now, with that said, if the first one breaks I will stop the impact. Gotta get this done. My hesitation at 40-50 is incredible and I have to travel to Tennessee at the end of the month.

IF they break most will hear me scream from Michigan.

ak_cowboy

Don't wait for it to cool down before spraying the Kroil, the heat will help it penetrate into the plugs. It also expands the heads so they're not as tight around the plugs.

bluemike

hello friend. Certainly a great article. I didn't have the same luck, broke off the first one BUT the kit took care of that.
My only critique is you specified 25 in lbs for torque on the new plugs,
I assume you meant 25 foot lbs.
I never spent $200 on a spark plug change even taking my other cars to a shop.
Boasting they're a 100,000 mile plug, I might just pull them out every 30-40,000 miles to be sure they don't "marry" into the engine.
Despite this, my 04 F150 XLT is the best ride I've owned, next to my first car, 1966 dodge coronet!

connorfx4

Yes, 25 foot lbs. He corrected it a few posts down.
And if you used sp-515 plugs there's no need to pull them out again at 30-40,00 as they're the updated version.

Patrick69

I have talked to several people and found that accel cops are worthless and short lived.
I have a 2007 fx4 5.4. I replaced all my coils with accel because I liked the yellow color. Long story short coils are less than 2 years old and only about 6000 miles and I got a misfire 1 and 8 cylinder. I replaced with motorcraft and now all is well.
Motorcraft are 86$ at my local ford dealer but I found a set of 6 on eBay for 200$.
My recommendation is to replace with ford motorcraft and do all at the same time.

Gus Muller

This is a great step by step and thank you! This is my first post, and I felt that I needed to help anyone out as this site has helped me so much in the past.

I was able to get 6 of the 8 plugs out, and the last two broke. I was able to get the 7th one out, and the 8th gave me a lot of trouble (farthest one back on the passenger side, by the firewall). I almost gave up. I tried a dewalt 12volt impact with an extension with no luck.

Here are the two things that I did, which made it successful and I hope anyone struggling will try this:

1. The sleeve that holds the extractor is loose and the extractor does not line up centered on the plug metal sleeve. To fix this, I added one rotation of electrical tape to the upper part of the extractor, which then made it line up perfectly. This really helped!

2. Even with the extractor lining up perfectly, it wouldn't bite. I tried pushing on the ratchet while turning, I tried an impact gun, etc. Then I took a ball pein hammer, and gave the extractor a few light taps. Then a few turns, then a few more light taps, and it grabbed! Do not hit the extractor very hard as you don't want to risk pushing the entire plug into the cylinder. Awesome way to have the first threads bite the metal.

3. Once my two broken plugs were extracted, I did 4-5 rounds of compressed air in each cylinder, followed by a shop vac hooked to a small clear tube that got all the way down into the cylinder head. Rotate the clear tubing around many times. Use a small shop vac, and start with the vac completely cleaned out. That way you can verify the pieces that you get out. Open and empty the shop vac after each round, and repeat the compressed air and shop vac routine until the shop vac doesn't have anything in it. This was the only way I could figure that I got all or most of the porcelain out.

I replaced the remaining two plugs, put everything back together, and it runs like a brand new truck. My truck had 138,000 miles and the plugs were original. I can't believe it even ran. It even fixed what I thought was a transmission issue on the highway at low speed on an incline. No more shutter, and the truck is much quieter now. Ford wanted $1000 labor, $400 parts, $100 per broken plug, and a potential pulling of the head.

If you have decent mechanical skill, patience, and the correct tools, you can do this job. Just plan on breaking a few and have the extractor ready! I hope this helps someone!!!

I run a 2004 New Body Style F150 FX4 Flareside, Extended cab, all the options, and I love my truck!!!