You should do the coils too while you are there, they have to come out anyway to get to the plugs.

 

Ok, did plugs over Thanksgiving (the wife was thrilled). Did the hours of soaking with PB Blaster after cracking the plugs a quarter turn and all, but it was to no avail. All eight plugs broke, and the porcelain at the tip broke and fell into the cylinders. I did have the broken plug removal tool made by the Lisle company on hand, and boy did it get a workout. Thought I was going to have to take it in and have the heads pulled, (and time may tell that I should have). However, I Google searched and found a video of a guy who retrieved porcelain chunks as well as the whole electrode from a cylinder using a borescope with a piece of tape on it. Awesome, but I don't have a borescope.

After a night of restless sleep and nightmares about evil clowns chasing me riding rainbow colored hippos that farted clouds of glitter and handing me repair bills at the Ford dealership, I decided to try to vacuum the porcelain fragments out. I used my shop vac with the crevice tool, a piece of 1/4 inch clear flexible tubing and duct tape.

Now, there's no way to be sure I got it all with the tools i had available, but I could compare the amount of debris in each cylinder with the amount missing from the broken tip (I cleaned the shop vac out after each cylinder) and I don't think I missed much.

No scary noises when I started it up and it seems to be running as smooth as ever, so I'm calling it a success. Not a pretty win, but a win. Hope it's a long time before I have to do that again.

 

Nice work Macgyver! I plan on doing mine next month ill keep the vac close.

 

That is a totally unnerving feeling, and I fully sympathize.

 

Just been thinking about the vacuum solution to porcelain fragments breaking off and falling into the cylinders when using the broken plug removal tool. Still no sign of trouble yet (it's been a couple of days now), but does anyone have any idea how long it would take to know if anything big enough to cause problems was in there? Would it be a start up and an "Oh CRAP!", or might one be driving along weeks later thinking all was well and get a nasty surprise?

Any ideas?

 

It is unlikely you will have any problems if it is just porcelain. If there were metal pieces I'd be more worried about it. Porcelain is basically glass against metal. Guess which one will be pulverized first?!

 

That's kinda how I was looking at it, but it's good to hear a like-minded opinion. It's the main mode of transportation for the family, so lots riding on it. Thanks for the input!

 

Alloro has it right. If there was going to be a problem I think it would have happened by now.
There is very little better than a somewhat scary job done right the first time you have to do it.

 

I purchased the removal tool and all and I could not get the ***** to do it! I paid $700 to the STEALER to remove the plugs!

 

Without even trying to do it yourself first?

 

So this issue is only on the 5.4 and 6.8 motors built between 2004-2008? My 97 Expedition with the 5.4 isn't one with the dreaded issue? With a potential misfire I might be looking at replacing plugs.......

Just give em hell like you do pretty much every other engine I've ever come in contact with?

 

It is time to do the plugs on my 2002 XLT 5.4 liter with 136K miles. I bought it used from a dealer and have no idea if they were replaced or not. I havent gotten into it yet to see. I bought the truck with 125K miles. I have been doing a lot of research on plugs and it seems that while copper core plugs dont last as long as the platinum plugs, the copper core plugs seem to be able to handle the heat a lot better than the platinum plugs. I bought the Autolite Copper Core. I already set the gap to .54.

 

.54" wow! that some gap! I would like to see the size of the coils.

 

The broken plug issue is an issue with the 3-valver 5.4s up to........... there goes my memory again up to 2007 ?????

 

Yeah. It actually says in the manual .52 - .56. So I just put it in the middle.