I bought my 01 F250 V10 new.
After all of the scare tactics written about spark plug problems I put off changing the plugs until 108,500 miles.
It was one of the easiest and trouble free plug changes I have done. The hype was all Bull*****.

I did a lot of searches and didn't find anything reassuring, so I am writing this for others that might need talked through it.

On Saturday afternoon I pulled the truck into the 70 degree shop.
Remove A battery cable.
I pulled the air intake tube off of the throttle body and MAF housing.
I had read that the Fuel rails need to come off and pulled the driver side. DON'T REMOVE FUEL RAILS. The COPs (coil on plugs) clear easily.
The electric connectors to the COPs disconnect by squeezing the clip with just a thumb and finger. NO small screwdriver or similar object is needed.
The wires are short so there is no way to mix them up. Disconnect them all.
My COPs all pulled right out no problems. The boots looked great no signs of cracks or heat damage.
After I removed the COPs I sprayed PB Blaster down into the plug area in the head.
Then let it set over night until Sunday Afternoon.
I kept the shop at 70 degrees over night.
After about 20 hours of soaking by the PB Blaster I attached a section of 3/8 hose to the end of the blow nozzle on the air hose and blew all of the PB and whatever other crap was down in the holes out.
A 3/8 spark plug socket with a 4inch & 6inch extensions.
EVERY plug came right out no problems.
Old plugs were worn to about .075
New plugs I gapped at .048
Light coat of Anti sieze on the Spark plug threads. In they went by fingers, No ratchet wrench.
HERE are FORDs updated specs. First torque to 12 Nm
Final torque to 18-20 Nm. This should be reached within 5-25 degrees of rotation. Mine torqued in about 5 degrees.
Put a dab of dielectric grease on the plug boots. Clean the MAF while your at it. Reassemble the air intake tube.
DONE!!!!!
I won't wait another 9 years or 100,000 miles to replace them again. They were way past due. It had poor cold starts and a rough idle. Now sounds great.

 

I agree. I found that most people on here fret over a plug change so much that it has us newer members scared ****less to even think about a spark plug change, but I'll tell you what pushed me to do mine, the $700 quote the stealership gave me for a tune up, that's what. I did mine not too long ago, and hell my V6 Taurus is more of a PITA than the V10 is, V6 has a sideways motor, you can't even SEE the ones in the back...at all. Too much hype put on blown plugs and stuff exploding and fireballs, crazy happenings etc. It's a plug change, follow the steps, make sure you have all your ducks in a row, get dirty. One thing I found helpful was removing some of the tubing near plugs in the back on passenger side, and unplugging the fuel injector electrical connections for clearance.

 

Changed my plugs before finding this site,piece of cake (I don't like cake). Pulled wrenches on Volkswagen air cooled no torque wrench used, snug em down till the elbow clicked. Not till I found FTE did I get spooked, then went back with a torque wrench and rechecked em, all between 20 and 25 ft. lbs.Reset plugs to 14 ft. lbs. and recheck every year. Since changed the plug boots after reading here. I have had no problems this is a great truck and this site has some very knowledgeable people willing to help someone they don't know. BSEG

 

Seems most of the guys that have trouble with the boots have pressure washed their engines or had a antifreeze leak around a plug boot.
I haven't done either.
Mine looked good so I didn't change them. Pulling them back off wouldn't take 10 minutes.
I bought the plugs at Auto Zone. I don't usually go there but it's close to where I work. Looser behind the counter told me they had the coils but not the boots or springs. I could have ran over to NAPA but didn't see a need.
I know several guys with Mod motors and have told them all to stop putting it off and Change their plugs!!

 

what plugs did you guys use to replace? the stock one are a 2 piece design which is the major problem and why the break off, not to mention the crappy thread design. i heard you should replace with a 1 peice design plug

 

The poor thread design is in the head. Not enough threads. The plugs have plenty of threads. I replaced with the exact same Motorcraft AGSF 22W that cam in it. Worked great for the first 100,000 miles why change to a different plug?

From the information I have gathered it seems that
1) don't try and remove plugs from a warm motor
2) Soaking with a penitrating oil over night while standing by the fire drinking cold beer is a lot easier than working all night to remove broken plugs.

 

I think you guys are getting confused with 3 valve and 2 valve engines. On a 01 V10 this would be a 2 valve engine. There arent any problems with plugs at all. The only problems is that there arent many threads in the heads that's why the plugs blow out. The plugs that break off in the heads are on the 3 valve engines. Not sure when they started with the 3 valve 6.8. Probably 05, but im not sure... go change plugs on a 3 valve engine with over 100k miles then come talk to me. You have never done a tune up until u tune one of these up. There are tricks to not breaking the plugs, but its gonna happen sooner or later trust me. I have removed a few heads because the customer tried to remove a broken plug on a 3 valve and while attempting to break out the porcelain drove the plug too far into the head...

 

my bad i thought all the 6.8, 5.4, and 4.6 had 2 piece plugs. im going to be replacing mine soon so i will use everyones tricks. thanks good thread!!!

 

I'm glad I found this thread. Mechanic just wanted me to pay $500 to replace the spark plugs and wires. I'm thinking that's an absurd amount for spark plugs/wires. He tells me how difficult they are to replaced. I told him I'd take care of it myself.

 

Thats when I will replace mine. at 60K now and motor has no problems. if it aint broke, dont try to fix it.

too much on these ford motors being held together by rust, paint, dirt, to go down the ideal preventive maint path....just my opinion.

 

That's one sure way to have a vehicle live up to its pejorative nick name: Found On Road Dead.

Plug changes tend to be over blown only because issues with them blowing out have been a bit overstated and/or exaggerated. While it is terrifically bad news when it happens to us statistically its not that significant or a huge problem with Modular Motors generally.

I'll admit my first foray into changing plugs had me concerned if only because accessing them seemed nearly impossible. Through the help and advice here and in the V8 forums too once I tackled this job it was amazingly less complicated and fraught with all the nightmares I conjured up for me.

In fact I've had to recently swap out two failed COP's; one was completely visible but still in a tight spot, the other done almost blindly by feel. This is shared only because I'm saying with a bit of practice and experience this is one of the less difficult things we do maintaining our Modular Motor V10's or V8's.

Another often overlooked aspect is how we remove plugs that might "resist". There are several accepted and oft-repeated bits of advice---following them greatly reduces potential damage to the heads because we're in too big a hurry.

Re-installing plugs does have a few theories how to best do it, my own process being slightly different from others. Its worked for me, I've shared it with others (different forum threads) and so far its been reliable, no damage long or short term.

Paying $500 or more for something done by an unknown mechanic or tech is a gamble, one I'm not willing to take if only to ensure reliability of my Ford stuff. I'm not under a time limit, can take over 4 hours if needed to do this, extend it into another day if needed or wanted. In the end I know what's been done, the parts used so rest quite easy knowing a bit of learning and getting my hands dirty does more than just save money.

That's my $0.02 worth---YMMV!

 

Mine seemed easier to do than my wifes hemi, but the extra 2 to do added time to the job.

I was scared too after reading all the posts here, but like I've mentioned before, after looking over the local shop personell , I asked myself, who do I trust more to do this right? yep, it was me!

I am glad I have a 2v for the spark plug change reason, my old back doesn't like to be bent over a fender for that long anymore. I'd hate to have to try to "easy out" half a plug base..

 

I replaced my spark plugs and one boot today. The tips on this forum greatly help.

It did take longer than it should have due to not having the right tools. Next time I will make sure I have a magnetic spark plug socket and the tubing to help put the new plugs in.

Very happy that I did not pay the outrageous price the mechanic wanted to charge.

 

I thought the 2v- V10's were the problem child not the 3v's?

 

I agree with everyone else...the stories you hear are voodoo

I was very reluctant and after all was said and done it was very easy. I did manage to break off quite a few of the tabs on the clips but that was my fault. Having said that personally think that those tabs could be a bit beefier but what do I know.

I used nickel based anti-seize and torqued my plugs to 14 ft/lb.