At 109,000 miles I thought it would be about time to replace the spark plugs. I knew it was no small task but got 6 of the 8 replaced without a lot of trouble. I would like to know if there is a trade secret to getting at the last 2 - back 2 on the driver's side of the engine - does the fuel rail need to be removed?

This is a dup of my posting in the 4.6/5.4 modular section.

Thanks for any guidance.

 

No, the fuel rail does not need to be removed. Remove the coil on plug and then a good swivel sock and extension out ought to take care of it. According to the shop manual, that's how its done. Clearance will be tight though....

 

Hi -

I'll tell you what the trade secret is. The trade secret is the
$%#$@'s don't really change all the spark plugs at the Ford dealership, that's what the secret is.

Those damn plugs are so poorly designed, so hard to get at the ones in the back, that it gives a lot of incentive to the mechanic to fake it.

That's what happened to me at the Ford dealer. My truck was running fine and I brought it in for the 100K spark plug change. OK, may I have my old plugs back, said I. Oh, uh, we got them, uh, OK...But there were only seven. Where is #8? Oh, uh, it fell down the drain...

Anyhow, to make a long story short, I finally got them to admit that they did not change all eight plugs. Oh, terribly sorry, sir, we fired the mechanic who worked on your truck...

In the future, I guess they'll keep a box with spare plugs around so that they can have eight old plugs to give customers who request the old ones.

By the way, the plugs did need changing. They were quite worn.

 

My msg. refers to the 1997 5.4.