Hi all,

When I was a teen and on in to my mid 30's I did as much back yard wrenching on my vehicles as I felt comfortable with, mostly basic maintenance stuff. But I have done very little wrenching over the past 15 years. As time went on I found myself breaking more than I was fixing, so I just said the heck with it and started taking my vehicles to the pro's.

This morning I took my 2007 F250 XL 5.4L in to the dealer for some repairs, and will be having new spark plugs installed as well. Truck should be done tomorrow evening. Mechanic said that it is somewhat nerve racking removing spark plugs from these trucks because sometimes they break. He said that if the plug breaks, it is a pain to get the broken part out and will cost me $45/plug if they break. So, 1st question: Is it common that these plugs break during removal in the 5.4L? 2nd question: $45/plug seems pretty steep, doesn't it? I don't remember putting on my "stupid" sign when I got dressed this morning, but

 

I would take it into a Ford dealership, and get them to replace them. The plugs breaking are a common thing, and I am not sure if they were ever fixed. If the dealer screws up, they should bill Ford with the cost of fixing their bad designs.

 

changing plugs in a mod motor is a time consuming venture, nothing like old school V8s thats for sure..

if your plugs have never been out and you have a bunch of limes on them then yes it is possible some may break.

the original plug design for the 05+ mod motors used a 2-peice plug that can seperate when being removed.

the new plugs are all 1-peice so no future issues.

if you want to save yourself some greif you can try soaking the plugs holes with penetrating fluid teh nite before removal.

but if your going that far into the operation you might aswell change the plugs yourself aswell.

ps make sure the plugs are installed with the proper torque setting, that is prolly the most vital part of the operation.just wrench tightening em wont suffice.

 

I had 2 plugs break on my '08; Lisle tool 65600 will set you back $80 plus shipping. 100% success and a simple tool to use; that gives you a choice, now.

Here's a read on Denlors Tool site; scroll down to read the TSBs and procedure to use for removal.
http://www.denlorstools.com/autoblog...rd-tsb-08-7-6/

 

Never had one break on my '03, but had 2 blow out.
One screwed back in and never gave me a prob. but the other one kept popping out, had to helecoil it, was a little nervous when changing it the next tune up, for fear that it would break off or pull out the hele coil, but lucky me it came out no prob.

 

First, the plug breakage doesn't apply to the 2V engines. This is just the 3V modular engines. By 08 the problem was fixed.

The issue was a bad spark plug design. The metal portion was 2 piece, with a crimp between the threaded portion and the 6 sided portion the socket wrench grips. The crimp would separate before the threads broke loose. Newer plug design is one piece, which doesn't break.

Changing the plugs on these engines isn't any more challenging than any other V-8 or V-10, you just have to remove the COP first and blow out the hole with air. Penetrating oil (not WD-40) is also a very good idea.

 

Top: New style 3V plug

Bottom : Old style 3V plug

The switch was supposibly made during the 2008 MY production so its possible for some 08' MY trucks to have the old style plugs.

 

The plug breakage is real. Now I priced the replacing option at a couple of Dealers in East Tennessee and both quoted $250 labor if no plugs broke. The didn't say cost if one did break. My 08 was produced about a month before the plug change was made (by info I got here somewhere) so it has the old 3V design. I changed them out using the procedures listed where you back them off 1/4 turn, soak them in Kroil and then carefully back them out after 15 mins plus of soaking. Engine cool to warm to the touch but not hot. Broke one got it out with the Lisle tool. Worked just fine. Plan on an all day job cause if they break it is time consuming to make sure everything is clean. Air and a shop vac is a must. Don't make the mistake I did and install Champions! Ran them for about 2000 miles and replaced with Motorcraft. Truck seems to run smoother and stronger as well as more efficient. By the way got a good used set of Champions going to E-bay if anyone is interested.

 

I just bought my 2004 F350 and no breakage but damn those things were a PITA to get out. Corroded inside the engine and fried. I'm sorry to hear breakage that sound like no fun.

 

Just seems to get worse . Dealer tech broke 6 of the 8 plugs and is having a difficult time getting these plugs out. He says he may have to pull the heads to remove broken plugs. This does not make any sense to me. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Do you suppose I just got hooked up with a bad tech? Or just a bad Ford design?

 

I don't know what tool the mechanic's using but the Lisle 65600 works! The only issue I had with the tool was with the first plug because I had not fully seated the pusher and, consequently, the porcelain did not get pushed far enough down for the puller to grip the shroud. Perhaps the mechanics puller threads are worn and will not grip the shroud; Lisle does state they will wear with use.

I just don't see why they can't get yours out!

 

In my opinion, it's a tough call. I don't trust dealers at all. They could be telling you this so they can charge you more labor. I have never had to remove a broken plug, so I am not sure how involved it is. The dealer figures, he has your truck dismantled, so what are you going to do. I think the dealer is bending you over. I would tell the dealer that you have talked to other mechanics, and they all say that this can be done without removing the heads. If six plugs really did break off, and all six broken plugs are still in the heads, then I would say that they haven't even tried to get them out. Car sales are down, so dealers are having to make money where they can. Service departments are what keeps dealerships open anyway, they really don't make a whole lot an new car sales. I think if it were me, I would go down there and look at it myself. Good luck.

 

When you change the plugs in the 3V 5.4 do you put in new plugs that will just give you the same problem again?? Or are the replacements better?

 

DKF,
Not sure where you got the pics, and i maybe wrong but by the top pic looks like it could never get it's way into the 5.4l 3v head. Maybe this is just a generic representation (not application) of the plug as it's length, thread design and ignition tip etc..aren't even close dimensionally to the orig. plug.

When i first changed plugs in my 06, i removed the plugs shown in the bottom pic. They were replaced with the so-called newer PZT1F (SP462),(Motorcrafts) which i bought from silverstate Ford parts in May of 09 and clearly had a one piece shell design (compared to the old 2 piece plug) but other than that looked virtually identical to the old plug (length, thread style etc..). I replaced them at 60k and broke 2. I will be replacing them again within 8k miles as i am at 92k.

Just wanted to bring this up if it caused any confusion with others with your picture and if you could comment/clarify on the plug shown in the top pic and what additional info, if any you may have.
THANKS

 

Thanks for all the info. That's what makes these forums so great. Good people willing to share their knowledge.

I got the truck back from the dealer today. All is good and repaired. They did not have to pull the heads. So now maybe I can start to enjoy this new to me truck!