Hey guys!

I just purchased my new truck! '00 V10 CCLB, 126k on the clock. I'm going to be going through it and doing maintenance as it comes, but I imagine plugs/coils are just about ready to be replaced (PO didn't like to do much maintenance outside of what was immediately noticeable).

I saw in another post that the recommended coils are the Araparts coils from Amazon: Has anybody used these? I've always thought if things seem to be too good to be true, they usually are - that feels like the case here. How is it that a pack of TEN can less than a SINGLE from Ford? I'm all about "good enough" in my truck, but don't want to throw junk at it either.

Any thoughts?

And hey, while we're at it, any tips on where to buy plugs?

 

I used motorcraft plugs, can get them all over, rock auto, amazon, oreilly's and more. I only had to replace one coil and did so with a motorcraft. My truck was purchased with 126k on it and the previous owner didn't do any maintence in the 12k miles and 5 years they had it.

Its probably a good time to change other parts as well:
-fuel filter
-air filter
-PCV valve

 

Replace the plugs and the boots, order a complete coil or two as spares and keep them on hand. There's really no need to replace coils that are working and have no definite lifespan.

.

 

That makes sense. Thanks for the replies. I'll pick up some plugs at the local shop when I grab a fuel and air filter. That'll be first on the list: simple stuff.

For the coils, I guess i was looking for some opinions of folks that have actually run them. I figured I should get at at least one or two, especially since my buddy says there's a slight miss at 55 on the throttle before the TQ uncouples (secondary ignition thing, he says?). I was just thinking if I could get all 10 for the price of two OEM 's, I might get another 100k out of them instead of chasing down one by one as they fail. Does that logic work out?

Thanks guys!

 

I would go with Motorcraft coils.

 

double post

 

You're going the hear the usual "buy motocraft" and "I wouldn't trust those chinese/ebay/insert name here coils" blah blah blah

From my own personal research, most of these people offering their advice have NO experience with these aftermarket coils and they're still thinking that paying $80 for a coil somehow makes it better.

Do I think all the aftermarket coils are the same? No
Is there poor quality aftermarket coils? Yes
Is it worth to pay the same money for 1 coil as you could for 10? No

I spent months going back and forth and got the same ol' "buy motorcraft" advice but once my accountant go involved it was a no brainer.

I bought 10 motorcraft plugs, boots and coils for $130 shipped to my door in Canada. The coils even have a "lifetime" warranty.

There is NO way that I can lose on this deal. The plugs alone here in Toronto would cost me over $80.

Step into the dark side and join me

 

Replace the plugs AND the boots at the same time. Boots, like plug wires of the previous generation engines, are items that degrade over time. The coils, nope. They last until they die, just like old ignition coils.

Personally, I buy the $15-20 coils from Rockauto if I have time to wait for them, otherwise I pick up an aftermarket coil at AutoZone or Oreillys when i don't have time to wait.

 

Well then there's those who DO have direct, in-hand PERSONAL experience with junk parts, those who don't repair vehicles based upon an accountants input. So we'll put your little theory to the proper test...........

When new to the Modular Motor and COP's in general I also drank the Kool-Aid and bought a set of Granatelli COP's--$200 from Jegs. Within two months one died, replaced under warranty. One year later during a cold snap one more died, two others were throwing misfire codes, replaced 2nd failed COP with one of the originals, over 200K miles on that one, MotorCraft original the the 2000 E250. (Additional misfires would magically disappear once engine was at operating temperature and engine shut down then immediately restarted.)

Then if we follow either Modular Motor sub-forums we'll see time and time again where someone has opted for cheap COP's or a brand/type of spark plug not generally recognized or spec'd for these motors and wade through their various problems, those that have cropped up and just COULD NOT be related to their new parts because well they're new. Once things are fully disclosed we learn "cheap" was their reason for buying, just as often installing new better quality was the solution.

Now in that situation where cheap parts required replacement how much money was saved? Warranty my *** is all well and good but when cheap stuff fails are we compensated for our down time and labor to swap it all out?

How much we spend on parts is probably dictated to the amount of aggravation we want to deal with when using cheap crap. If like me you want to do the job once and have reasonably high expectations of reliability and dependability then spending the few extra dollars is the true no brainer.

If you don't mind wasting your time changing prematurely failed parts then by all means consult your accountant, Swami, tea leaves or any other source you'd find more credible than those who've "been there, done that, learned a lesson........".

IF COP's were routine maintenance items like filters then yes maybe cheap would be the way to go. With over 276K miles on a few original Ford COP's I think I'm good sticking with that brand or any other high quality part that has a good reputation.

So that's this guy's non-lack of direct and specific knowledge and experience with this.

 

Thanks for your real life input

Unfortunately for me, in my world MONEY makes decisions for me. It's pretty straight forward. Follow "my little theory" and maybe you'll understand.

If it would be a matter of spending a few extra dollars on a part that I FEEL is better no problem. In my case it's over $900 (Canadian) I'm saving. So I can either spend $130 and drive around or wait until I save up for the Ford parts. See how easy that was?

My first time changing out the coils it took me maybe a minute to get the ones in the back out. So at that rate I have lots of time to replace the soon to be failed new coils and still spend lots of time with my tea leafing swami.

 

You could have saved even MORE money if you hadn't replaced all 10 COPs for no reason.

They weren't all bad, were they? Had one bad? MAYBE two? Or just decided to change them because you were already in there? Or was it not worth using a wire brush on the contact to clean them up?

My '01 has had a lot of abuse, lots of high-temp slow moving pulling trees in the woods with lots of idling, lots of hours, lots of sitting around for long periods of time not running for months, then back to running again in the ice cold.

No bad COPs, and they are 14 years old now.

I once read a TSB from Ford, telling the techs to not replace COPs unless they failed the bench test - turns out every time someone had a misfire, they were changing out the plug, boot AND COP and wasting a lot of money.

Don't change them unless they are bad. There are no performance gains to be had with "performance" coils, and the originals last a LONG LONG TIME if they don't crack.

 

The most obvious thing to see was how flawed your theory is.

 

I feel exactly the same way about your views...

Thanks for the life lesson

 

Why would I have replaced something for no reason?

You have no information at all on what issues I was having yet making this statement makes sense? smh

Seems like having a different opinion isn't welcome on this forum...

 

This is what was driving me crazy on a OEM Motorcraft cop with 177k on it. I had gone through the miss thing before. But once I found and replaced it, done.


This time every other time I'd turn the truck off, sometimes during a drive, the miss would come back. I'd clean the MAS, then it would run perfect, then a day later, miss. I replaced all the injector plugs because I did confirm that a couple went bad(they were disintegrating, clips breaking off, would not stay on) Eventually I replaced the cop's on the left side and had a left over new one and stuck it on the left side. But did replace all the boots on the left. Miss is back. Bought another coil to chase it and got lucky I guess, next one in line was #7 and it's been running smooth for 10 days. I've never tried the cheap ones on amazon. Usually a few different flavors of what the autopart stores have.