brand X gas
 

With the talk of different gas brands, I do believe there is a diff between them. Some yrs back I had an exhaust system put on a vehicle and noticed a huge pile (approx 100) of catalytic conv in the corner. Was killing some time so looked at several of them and then asked the mechanic why some of them seemed to be almost plugged up. He said it was the gas that people burned, and he could tell you what brand you used mostly by what the conv looked like. Also had a 150 hp outboard completely rebuild (including block) and the mechanic (which is considered the best in the area) told me to use nothing but brand name fuels. I took this to heart considering that he had seen a lot of motors in his 30+ yrs of experience. A few yrs ago read an extensive article in a performance mag, about a company that tested several fuels for everything from soup to nuts, and they said the same thing. I'll continue buying the high priced stuff thank you. Noticed my '05 F150 manual said to use nothing but regular gas. Kind of surprised me considering the 5.4 is a 9.85 to 1 compression ratio motor. Guess that isnt all that high but does anyone use mid or high octane fuels?

The funny part is most non brand name fuels are supplied by brand name refiners.

Using mid or high octane is only money out of your pocket and could be determental to performance, since you will not use the full potential of higher octane. Your vehicle is setup to use 87. Both fuel and spark maps are designed to use this level of octane. Even if you use higher octane the spark and fuel curve is not enough to take advantge of the higher octane. theonly way youcan override the embedded map is to buy a tuner that will allow you multiple settings at mutiple octanes.

I don't know how many know this but it is a federal law that all gas sold in the US must have a detergent package for emission reasons.

Here is more info on detergent in gasoline. http://www.toptiergas.com:80/ It's not all the same!

Droped off my 04Screw for 30,000 service I also asked them to change the plugs. The manager said don't bother to do it now wait till 60K. I told him about my concerns with the plug issue and wanted to change the plugs early so I woudn't have problems changing them at 60K plus it still is under warrenty. He gave me a quote of $300 to change the plugs. I double checked with him that if the head needed to be removed becuase of the plug problem it fell under the warrenty. He said it did and I would not be charged!!!!!!!!!!! I know it seems crazy to pay $300 to change the plugs but I'll sleep a little easier knowing that I don't have to worry about breaking one in the driveway. She has 31000 on her I asked them to save the plugs for me I'll post pictures when I get them. I was planning on doing the job myself until they said it fell under warranty if a problem did come up!!!!

Just picked her up!!!!!!!!! No broken plugs and they are in good shape, not much rust or carbon on them...........I probably could of waited to change them, kicking myself now that I spent the $.........I kind of wish one of them broke while they were changing them, would of justified the money spent. Oh well I just should of had more balls and changed them myself!!!!!!!!!!!! I can say this now that the job is done and none broke!!!!!!!!!!!!

spark plug removal problem has been solved for 5.4 3v ford
 

A small prototype Co. has developed a plug extractor that will sucessfully remove broken plugs on 2004 to 2008 5.4 3v engines. It really works and is just hitting the market. For more information you can go to www.microprototypellc.com. This is a real problem for Ford and as the tune ups start coming in there will be more yelling going on. Other tools on the market do not do the job.

I wouldn't use that tool for getting the broken plugs out.
You run the risk of getting the chipped pieces of porcelain into the cylinder.
If that happens you can say good bye to the engine.

If they scope the cylinder bore and vacuum the fragments completely, I don't see where that would matter. So long as Joe Blow at the dealership know what the f he's doing. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Ford will handle this. The clocks ticking. The 04's are getting closer to Armageddon(100k).

My guess? FORD won't do anything about it. Realistically, what percentage of engines, when doing SP changes, have a plug break and get stuck? I'll bet there is ZERO data on that. Anybody know some numbers?

I did mine myself at 40K, thankfully with no problems. Adn I did use a chrome based anti-sieze on the threads.

Good luck to all.

CMOS

Hey CMOS of course you didn't have a problem with your 3.0 liter ranger, the problem is with 04 through 07 5.4 liter v-8's

I just purchased the plug extractor and used it. My truck has 78K on it. Five of eight plugs broke off. The tool sucessfully cleared the porcelain with a sliding punch that carefully taps the porcelain and no porcelain falls into the head. Another step removes the rest of plug. This tool really does work. Total removal time about 20 minutes per plug. A friend of mine used my tool and had good luck with it also.

Since you have used the tool, would you descirbe in more detail how the tool deals with the stuck porcelain portion and then with the stuck grounding elctrode portion? What happens to the porcelain when struck by the tool? Do you have any pictures you could post? Thanks, Russ

A few months back I posted the idea of pulling the plugs out of my 05 with 12,000 miles on it and cleaning and antiseizing the shield and threads, the general reply was why, just wait till you get 100,000 miles on it then worry about it. after reading so many people whinning of there broken plugs and how much it cost to have them extracted. I pulled mine the other weekend took maybe 2 hours and all it cost was 3 bucks for the antiseize. And when I go to check them in another 30,000 miles of so I won't be waiting for it to break. Ford made a bad desighn flaw everyone is aware of it so either adjust the maintenence accordingly on the plugs. or dont seem so surprised when the plugs break off cause you knew it was going to happen.

part of the plug extractor is made where it will only go so far and you just tap lightly and the porcelain breaks in a few pieces that you can easily vacumn out without any falling into the engine. The electrode is pulled out with long needle nose pliers.Will post pictures as soon as someone shows me how to do it. wasa4246