A u-joint socket is generally shorter than a socket with a u-joint on it. I bought a cheap one Home Depot for using at home. At work I have a Snap-On but that costs way too much to use once or twice.
If you do end up removing the fuel rail I wouldn't remove it completely. Just lift it and move it out of the way enough to work.
Usually the injector o-rings will be ok to reuse. Put a bit of oil on them before you put it back together and if it doesn't slide together easily stop and see why not. Sometimes the injectors will stay in the manifold, sometimes they come out with the fuel rail. It really doesn't matter.
You can usually just tie the heater hoses out of the way to get at the plugs.
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Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum.
I have just completed changing the spark plugs in my '98 F-150.
Hats off to those of you that can do this in 45 minutes.
Took me 8 hours to complete all 8 plugs. (#3 & #8 were the most difficult and took over half of the time)
** I would advise disconnecting the battery before attempting to change #8; I accidently bumped one of the 175A fuses on the Primary battery fuse and blew it. The truck had no power after that, $5 and 5 minutes later i replaced the fuse and all was well.*****
***I would have to say #3 was difficult because the fuel rail is directly above the 7mm bolt that holds the COP in place. So i use the smallest 7mm box-end wrench ,and got in there and took my time , after getting the COP bolt loose it was a piece of cake.
Thanks for writing this article , I would not have attempted it without reading this.
Good to hear that you got it done and thanks for the tip about disconnecting the battery
That's always a good idea when working under the hood but people rarely do it.
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I feel like I've just joined the mile high club or something, for having just changed ALL 8 of my Expy's spark plugs. Finally! It took me three Sundays' work to accomplish it, but I'd like to throw-in my $.02 too.
Things you should have before beginning:
1. Larger (4" pipe maybe) diameter hose clamp in order to tie back the heater hoses located on the passenger side. It ties to the electrical connection center/box's bracket just by going thru the little hole there. I found this to be an easy and useful spot to work on the passenger side--you do have to dismantle the box/fuse connection wires from the alternator and going to the ground and the starter relay anyways to remove it out of the way.
2. As Racerguy pointed out, you have to have a 7mm universal joint socket (from Sears=$7.99) in order to remove some of the more challenging COPs. It worked like a charm.
3. Have plenty of extensions for the 3/8" and 1/4" drive sockets along with swivels too. You have to use some tape so that the spark plug's socket doesn't come off in the borrough.
4. Have the a/c fuel line removal tool to disconnect the fuel line's two connections near the engine--make sure there's no pressure built up by bleeding it or letting the truck sit overnight. Loosen the fuel rail to get a bit of slack, you do not need to remove it as I'd thought.
5. Have plenty of patience. I had a divine intervention to complete this. Enjoy.
Hey, I neglected to mention the fact that the very last plug on passenger side the COP seperated, and some needle nose pliers that have the 90 degree bend on them are priceless to remove that rubber boot.
My other question is will I run into any problems in using that same COP? Is it now broken? Because I just pieced it together as it was and I mean the truck runs cool-better than it did before changing the plugs. Thanks.
i've had a hard time with installing the plug on my 4.6 97 F150. torque the plug and the socket would stay on the plug when i pulled out the extension .So i welded the socket to plug and now it's just for changing the plugs .well wourth it!!
Ford has changed up their spark plug numbers a lot of times lately. I'm not sure what's what anymore.
If you go to www.motorcraft.com you can look them up there. I think it also shows the old numbers and the changed up numbers. If it was mine I would just go to my dealer and get the plugs that they say are the right ones. Or just get the part number if you can get Motorcrafts cheaper somewhere else.
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I was able to buy the recommended Motorcraft plugs from AutoZone for about $20 less than what the dealer had them for. Even the Motorcraft website just lists the one plug, via either the stock # or part # in both the Standard catagory and the premium catagory. I guess this is the one. I noticed on both the Motorcraft plugs and the Autolites that I returned, the new plugs have twice as long threads when compared to the old ones. I guess there is plenty of room for the plug to sit deeper in the head. I will make sure as I put them in though.
In my opinion, you're gonna be screwed if the motor decides to throw a spark plug regardless of preventative measures taken. I would imagine the normal anti-seize compound on the plug after taking all precautions to remove debris prior to the old plug, then torquing the new plug down, and lastly, making the COP tight enough but also not too tight otherwise the plastic on the COP mount may break. This happened to one of mine, and I just supplemented the broken plastic "circle" with a small washer so there aren't gonna be any more problems from that COP. Damned COPS!
You can test the coils' resistance with an ohm meter, as per the service manual's instructions pretty easily (better than the 5.4's cops) Otherwise look into getting replacement units. I personally would get high output coils from either MSD or ACCEL just for a couple dollars more than the replacement units.
I have messed around with these things for some time because my truck is a 97' and I've owned it the whole time. I've tried bosch platinum +4's.... Waste of money!! Felt a loss of power!! Switched back to regular bosch platnium's, power returned. As for the COP's, I've noticed that once you start to see the small cracks in the top of them. Just washing your engine bay down will cause one of them to fail. ( has happened twice to me) If you notice cracks forming on them, Just grab a little of that liquid electrical tape and coat the cracks with it and you'll save yourself some trouble. Also once you're done replacing bad ones, Just disconnect your battery for 15 min and that runs out the capacitor that keeps the computers code memory and will clear the check engine light.( straight from ford dealer master mechanic!!
I'm trying to see how long these engines will stand up to the test of time.
No they don't have to go back in the same hole.
If I have a misfire on a plug that is hard to access and am replacing all the plugs, I will usually take the COP from the cylinder that was misfiring and put it where it's easier to get at, in case the COP was causing the miss.
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Changed plugs for first time 5.4L triton F-150
5.4 Plugs
