I have a 2006 Ford E150.

I am SO confused on where the plugs and how to do this! I didn't realize it was so difficult to access them on these new cars - I just came from a 1991 Ford F150.

Does anyone know of a place where there are pictures/video? I looked on Youtube and everything is for trucks. If that wasn't bad enough!

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Scott

 

The way I did mine was by getting in there and changing them. A few brackets have to be moved and you will use every extension length you have. It is not easy so give yourself lots of time.

My advise is to change all COPS and use only Ford plugs. I am using Rally COPS I bought on eBay and Motorcraft plugs for last 60,000 miles. I am changing them again in a few weeks. At a minimum change all the boots.

The are several threads about stripped threads and I was lucky and had none. I put anti seize on the plugs as they went in.

 

your engine is the same as is found in the trucks. the difference is you have much easier access to the back of the engine than the trucks do.
you're in the years that didn't have the problem with stripped spark plug holes, yours is in the years that use the infamous 2-piece plug design, which is known for breaking off and leaving the bottom half of the plug in the head. if you're unfortunate enough to have this happen, there is a special extractor tool available for about $100. the tool works quite well, but is reported to have a service life of about 4 plugs.
on an 05 expedition i changed plugs on, i had 2 plugs fail in this way, and the extractor tool solved the problem easily. i've also changed plugs on vans a couple years older that that, so i'll give a few tips.

some people have said that to remove the COPS (coil on plug units) its required to remove the fuel rail, but this is NOT required. you just need a 1/4 drive ratchet with a few extensions, a universal joint (ball joint style preferred), and a 7mm socket. as mentioned above, there are a couple little brackets that have to move, but nothing major.
you want to start this job by removing both front seats and the doghouse. note that removing the seats isn't required, but if you don't, you'll probably be taking a trip to your chiropractor as soon as you're done.
on the 05 i worked on, the spark plugs took a 9/16" socket. totally weird, and took me forever to figure it out. and that has to be a 9/16, a 14mm won't fit, and nothing else will either. part of why it took so long to figure out
note that champion makes a 1-piece plug for this application, which prevents the infamous 2-piece plug design from ever affecting your life in the future. i highly recommend these, as the original plugs are so failure-prone during removal.
for actually removing these plugs, its advised to spray a little bit of carb cleaner or similar solvent in the spark plug holes to help dissolve any carbon buildups that may be helping the bottom the plug stick in its hole. but first you want to blow any junk out with compressed air, or the solvent will carry it down into the cylinder when the plug comes out. some people say its best to remove the plug using an air tool, claiming that the plug is less likely to break if it never stops once you start turning it. i don't know if there's any truth to that, but i don't see any harm is using an air ratchet.

if you do have a plug break, it is possible to put the top half of the plug back on it and drive it to the parts store to buy the extractor tool, just leave the coil and fuel injector unplugged for that cylinder until its right.

hopefully it goes smoothly for you! on the 05 i worked on, 2 plugs failed, and they were the most accessible on the whole engine. the extractor tool made short work of them after i waited 3 days for it to arrive, with my customer aware of what was going on and driving the vehicle in the downtime.

 

This is such a fantastic post. Thank you so much for this!!!

 

Take your seats out... You will be glad.

 

So, I actually had a guy come to my house and help me with it (I wish I would have told him about the seat removal HAH HAH), and we got everything done and the thing ran like a charm. I've driven it about maybe 100 miles since and it's running great!

BUT

I was driving down the highway today and for about 30 seconds it seemed to lose power and the engine light started blinking. SAME AS BEFORE! But just as quickly as it started, it stopped and no engine light remained.

Took it to the auto parts store and they hooked the computer up, and it said Cylinder 1, 5, 7 etc. were misfiring! WHAT?!

Of course, like I said, it stopped just as soon as it started, and didn't come back on for the 20 miles it took for me to get to the store.

Any ideas as to what this could be?

The manager told me to clear the code and now that's where I am.

Could this be a fuel injection problem, or would that have come up in on the computer as a code?

HELP!

 

Did you change the COPS or the boots on the existing COPS? If not guess what you need to do!

 

What are COPS? I changed the Coils and boots along with the spark plugs.

 

COPS = Coil On Plugs. You said you changed them so the problem may be else ware.

 

Right. That's my question. What else could it be? Like I said, I took it to the Auto Parts store and the computer said I had misfires going on.

Seems unlikely. Could it be dirty fuel injectors?

 

Since you know the bad cylinder numbers 1-5-7, make sure the wire connectors on those coils are pushed in and locked, and or swap a bad cylinder # coil with a good one and see if the misfire moves with it.

 

Cool. That will be my next step if it happens again.

It is strange because I have driven it for almost a week and 100 miles after the plug/boot-coil change and now all of a sudden. Any more ideas?

Thanks!

 

inspect the wire harness plugs that go into them, verify all wires are fully seated in their plastic socket, otherwise one of them may be wiggling out just enough to screw you up. inspect the fuel injector wires the same way

its just weird that 3 cylinders are doing this all at once

 

I'll check all the connections.

Yes this is WEIRD, and AGGRAVATING!

 

What are the years with the stripped spark plug holes and the 2 piece plug design? I have a 2006 E-250 with the 4.6L engine and am about to undertake changing the plugs.

Where can this tool be gotten, and what is it called or how is it ordered?

Where does the plug break? What is the purpose of putting the top half back on, if the coil and fuel injector are going to remain unplugged? How is a fuel injector unplugged (my apologies if this is obvious. I haven't looked at it closely)?