Hi all,
My name's Jon, I'm an ASE certified mechanic and I've been lurking for a little while gathering information on vehicles before I work on them.
I run a mobile diagnostics, repair, and customization business, and lately I've had a few jobs involving the infamous 3-valve Triton spark plugs. Recently a customer of mine with an 07 Expedition was charged $450 to replace ONE plug at the dealership, and decided he needed a whole new set. Rather than being metaphorically raped by the Ford dealership (after giving them well over $30,000 for a truck by the way) he called me.

I changed the plugs, broke three in the process, etc etc. No problem, I've got all the tools and knowledge to complete the job. After the plugs were changed, the hesitation problem that he hoped to fix with new plugs only got worse. I know these Fords' coil packs are damn nearly bullet proof, and every time you go to the dealer and get told "you have a bad coil pack" usually that is not the case. I ohmed out every single pack, and even at 135,000 miles, they all tested like brand new.

I therefore changed his fuel filter and every single coilpack boot on the truck, blew some fuel injector cleaner through the lines and fired the truck up. No hesitation, no problems, no backfiring under load (i.e. we hooked up his trailer, turned the A/C on maximum, and gave it a boot full up the steepest hill we could find.)

I know a lot of people have been posting on here and elsewhere about misfiring problems, and almost every one has had a dealership tell them one or more coil packs are bad. This is almost definitely not the case - go to Autozone and spend $38.99 on the set of eight boots, grab a little packet of dielectric grease, and solve your problem in the driveway with one ratchet, one socket, and about an hour of your time.

Just thought I'd post this solution to help out other people and help them avoid the terrible Ford Service Centers.

Jon

edit for afterthought: If you feel like changing those three-piece plugs in your driveway, do not be scared of breaking those plugs. While it's a bit of a hassle, a quick trip to Orilleys and $100 and some change will get you the Lisle plug extractor. It is absolute magic, and works every time. However, do not believe the instructions. When pressing the porcelain shield down into the tip that gets stuck in the head, DO NOT crank on it until the piston is flush with the body. You want to leave about two or three threads showing, otherwise the porcelain will go too far down, break the hoop on the bottom of the plug, and leave you with a non-magnetic chunk of metal sitting in your cylinder waiting to wreak havoc on your valves. You only need to push it down far enough to get a thread or two of the reverse-threaded removal tool into the tip of the broken part of the plug.

 

Nice write-up thanks. Here, have some rep points to kick you off in the right direction.

 

Nice write up! I I just wanted to add a point.
If you don't have an Ohm meter, you can tell if the coils are bad or going bad by pulling the boot of and looking at the electrode.(protruding from the coil) If it is green or turning green then your coil is either bad or going bad. I have cleaned this with throttle cleaner and it helped me to buy some time until I could purchase a new coil.

 

i have an issue with it under 2000rpm,was this the case with the expedition?