Hause

2004 5.4L 3v with 70k miles. I started to change the plugs early this morning. It only took about an hour to get out all 8 coils. I didn't bother taking the power steering bracket off or apart, didn't need to. I got 6 of the plugs out with little trouble. However, I broke 2 plugs on the drivers side, the front most and back most. A buddy has the tip extractor tool and he let me borrow it. However, the porcelain is still in the tip and I am having trouble getting it out. There is absolutely no way to get needle nose pliers on it to get it out. I soaked it down really good again with PB blaster and I'll be out of town this weekend. Maybe it will work them loose over the weekend and they will just pop out on Monday.

I have seen a few tools out there to break the porcelain but they are much too expensive. So my only real option may be to either pull the engine or lift the cab to pull the head.

jvbest33

Cornwell tools makes an extractor set for $80, and they have an add on for removing the porcelain that uses LocTite

exitwound

Get a metal coat hanger and straighten it out but don't cut it short. Blow all of the crap and extra PB Blaster out of the plug well and spray some carb cleaner on the porcelain part. Next get some super duper strong epoxy and put it on the tip of the coat hanger and insert coat hanger in the porcelain hole. Let sit and cure then then re-soak with PB or Aero-Kroil then the porcelain should pull out. If your lucky it will pull the sleeve out too. If not the cornhole tool should get it out.

This is how the tech at the dealership here does it. He did it to mine and said it worked well.

Hause

Thanks for the replies. We got back into town late today and I haven't had a chance to mess with it. I'll deal with it tomorrow and post my progress.

Thanks again,

Hause

Hause

I am attempting exitwound's suggestion. I went to the hardware store and got some PC-7 and it is curing on one of the plugs now. I also broke one of the plugs that came out whole to use as a test subject. The package says it has a 24 hour cure time so it will be tomorrow before I know if it has done the trick. I started working with the front plug as it is the easiest to work with. If I have good luck with this then I will attempt the back plug.

Anyone have recommendations for a good or better epoxy?

I sure hope this works....

Hause

The PC-7 was a failure. I tried a different epoxy and it was too runny and it appears that the plug tip is now epoxied into the head. Now the head has to come off.

onefitty

What a pain in the butt! Sorry to hear about your luck. Thank the holy ghost I had no problems when installing new plugs in my 02.

Octane

Your '02 doesnt have 3-valve heads, thats why. All you have to worry about is one of your sparkplugs suddenly ejecting.

Hause

I got the 2 plugs out without pulling the head. Lucky for me. I was able to counteract the epoxy with carb cleaner quick enough.

Now my truck runs like crap. I am assuming it is due to unpluging the PCM and now it has to relearn. Which doesn't make sense at all since all I did was change the spark plugs. I wish I could get rid of this truck but I can't afford to.

transmaster

At least Ford has acknowledged the problem, which doesn't help as the fix still comes out of your own pocket. here is the FSB on this issue
http://www.locknstitch.com/FT%20pdf%...20Bulletin.pdf