Spark plugs--keep praying
 

Well I finally got a day off and decided to start the plugs. 2007 150,000 miles--original plugs. Got the compressor and impact wrench out, vacuumed out the plug canal (lots of dirt in there) and then hit it with the impact and..........so far 2 came out immediately. Then go to put in new coils and the ones the guy sent me are wrong so up to O'Reilly's to get 8 ACCEL COILS I guess. Hope those are fairly good because I need my truck Sunday.

Ready to hit the other 2 towards the back but what sucks is it's impossible to get an impact wrench in there even with a swivel.

You can do it. I did it with just hand tools (though it took half the day - literally 12hrs).

x2 on the hand tools and time spent. lol Heard both good and bad about ACCEL though, hopefully yours are good.

5 done and very easy with impact and none broke. That's it for me tonight and will do the last 3 tomorrow--of course those 3 (back 2 passenger side and back 1 drivers side) will take me twice as long as the 5 did just now which was 3 hours.

I have no idea how one gets back to those three to vacuum out the spark plug hole before you pull it--way too much sand etc. in there to not vacuum before pulling the plug. AND then there is no way to get a impact on those even with a swivel. UGH! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I told my wife and kids to leave the house tomorrow so they won;t hear me cuss up a total storm I am sure.

Congrats on a successful start! I use compressed air to blow out the plug wells. It's more effective than a vacuum. Just make sure you have the safety glasses on lol. Good luck with the final 3 plugs :thumbsup:

Are you using any decarbonizer like deep creep and letting it sit for awhile before going at it?

I am using YEILD. 7 down, 1 to go--guess which one--it's gonna be a bitch. So I worked with a cold engine, a little YIELD and let soak for 5 minutes, a 700lb torque impact wrench (and plenty of swivels) and all 7 came out like crap through a Goose--easy!

Let me guess, back driver side?

No, that came out easy with 2 swivels. The passenger aft plug is a bitch. I got the coil out and blew out the plug area. Soaked with YEILD and now trying to figure out how to get my impact on there.

Just by chance, others who have done this, do you pull the large computer metal thingy out to gain access to that rear plug--just curious.

Yeah, pull the PCM and mounting bracket. Couple of bolts and that's it. Then use something to keep it out of your way.

Pulled the PCM and that passenger rear plug and coil was easy--done! Now for a test drive and see if that major miss fire at times is gone between roughly 40-55mph. That was only on a gradual acceleration. Hope it's gone!

Miss fire is gone, truck runs quite a bit better & smoother. Now time to do a tranny fluid and filter change.

What plugs did you use? I would use either the updated motorcraft or the autolite versions. Also a small dab of anti-seize on the barrel of the plug (not the threads) will make them come out with no issues next time. Also stay away from anything not Ford COP's. I have tried them all with my mustang and none of them are as good or last as long as the factory ones.

I used the Motorcraft and did use Motorcraft Nickel anti-seize on the barrels with a small dab on the first 3 threads (did not go all the way up). I didn't have a choice but to go buy ACCEL Coils locally. The original ones I ordered were wrong (by the seller) and I started this yesterday and need the truck tomorrow. We'll see how long the ACCEL's will last.

Yeah if you are in a tight spot they will probably be fine for now.

I just changed all 8 coils today. I used msd street fire coils smoothed the idle out and got rid of my 40-50mph miss also they had excellent reviews plus it's msd so a little better than accel and for $150 for all 8 I figured why not

Ya so far so good even though I only went for a 50 miles drive but so much smoother and a tad more power I think.

I think a lot of people who have problems with aftermarket coils cause their on troubles. It's my understanding that as plugs go bad the computer notices and starts to throw more power to the coils to keep everything running smooth. As this happens and the plugs go unchanged then the coil pack eventually burns out. So people replace the symptom which is the bad coil by replacing it. But the problem was the plug. Therefore the computer continues to throw the power which continues to burn coils. I used the coils from Amazon which were less than 100 for all 8. Changed plugs and cool overs and haven't had any trouble at all. So if I can get 50k out of the plugs/coils then I consider myself to be well ahead. All 8 of my coils cost less than one motorcraft. Just my understanding from researching the problems. Here is the link for the coil packs I used.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YAV...bYL&ref=plSrch

X2 on pulling the PCM, however; I actually left the bracket on and used it as a leverage point when pulling the #8 plug from my engine.

#8 would be on the drivers side.. ECM is on the passenger side