Want to thank this site for providing some guidance of what I might expect when I dove into this. Thought I might share back.

2002 F350 4x4 with 6.8l V10 @ 106K miles on factory plugs. Mostly street / highway use but it has been muddy before. Ran well but would of course get crappy mileage and I'd get some detonation every now and then like when it loads going up long hills.

Don't know what it was *supposed* to have, but I have the 3 thread heads.

I used the factory Motorcraft plugs and Denso boots, both from Rock Auto. The factory boots were still as supple as a Trojan on date night so I skipped replacing those - kept the factory ones on the truck and the Denso's stocked on the shelf at casa Dave.

I needed no "special" tools at all. Well, except for an extendable magnetic retriever to get my 3/8 ratchet from when it went down in the valley of the engine block. Dayum that's a long ways down there lol. Anyway, a 3/8 ratchet, 5/8 spark plug socket (old and new plugs were BOTH 5/8, not 9/16 like I had read), a handful of extensions (10, 6, 3, stubby), a Proto 1000 in/lb ratchet (about 16" length), and then some 1/4 drive stuff like a ratchet and socket and a few extensions (6, 3) for the coil retainer screws. I also have a 150 in/lb torque wrench that I used to check those going back in.

Once the coils were off I blew the holes out using one of the sucker lines that came with my Mityvac system. About 4 feet of what looks like 1/4 OD plastic tube with a rubber grommet on one end that connects to the Mityvac. Just so happens that the hole in that grommet slipped nicely over my OSHA trigger nozzle (covering the 30 psi vents ) getting a nice amount of air down in the hole.

Broke each plug away with the 3/8 ratchet and then put the new ones in gapped at 0.054 with dry threads torqued to 14 ft/lb. Book said 11, a forum post said 14. Forum > book. At no point did I need or want any other plug removal or installation tool than the rubber insert socket and my extension assortment.

Doing the one in the back (#10?) was tricky but was nothing more than the same tools and a little more time. I was able to swing the torque wrench over the top of the throttle body so no 5" tall midget with midget tools were needed.

When I put the coils back on I did not use any lube (dielectric grease), and they slipped back in effortlessly (just like they came off). Torqued the screw to factory spec from the book.

All the old plugs had gaps @ 0.060 or so, and were a wee white. Thought they might have more tan to them but whatever. Truck started right up and purrs much better now. Might bump the interval from 100K down to 50K miles. You don't realize how much the improvement is until you do it.

A few other technical notes, it was about a 3 beer job. If the fridge had not been located in the house I probably would have drank more due to the convenience of beer being close to truck. But, truck is outside and fridge is inside. Hopefully not too ghey, but I was drinking Peroni, an Italian beer. Went nice with the pizza I had right before starting the job. Miller Lite is otherwise the truck beer of choice.

Finally, in the advent of safety, I'm 6-4 so have a pretty good step and reach. I used the factory tow loops on the front for steps / foot rests, and put my knee on the battery or radiator area. It goes like this:

Beer -> Foot on tow loop -> beer -> foot on tow loop -> beer -> foot slips off tow loop while engaged with spark plug under hood -> Dave does backsumi from under hood onto pavement.

Dave was fine, beer didn't tip. Have a great day.

 

Guess I was a bit more lucky, have a 2 car garage in the front of the house and a 1 truck/boat garage in the back of the house and basement frig is only 20 feet away

 

Thought I would throw out an update to this.

As mentioned with my initial post I changed the plugs at 106K miles. Somewhere about 6 t0 8K miles later, one of them blew out. I assume it backed out (unthreaded) because I had an unknown ticking noise for some time leading up to the "event." Yes, driving down the road at zero dark:30 on the way to work and having a plug exit the head is an event lol.

I wasn't far from home so I returned to the house and took another vehicle that day.

After a hardcore session of research both here and elsewhere about what the best solution was, I thought what the heck, try threading a new plug in? So I picked up a new plug, it threaded in and torqued up, and has been in service for now a total of 120K on the truck. Or 6-8K more miles.

Blown plug, cheap repair/happy ending, blah blah, have a great day

 

Dave6666,


This is the second time (at least ) someone did the plugs by Ford recommended torque (14 ft#) and had a blow-out issue . The other one was a 1999 model (older style head ) , the guy was very methodic and precise (based on his meticulous writing ).


So, I am scratching my head here in disbelief ( I used the same torque) .


Is it possible a "beer effect " on torque of some plugs or some other distraction ?


did you re-torque the other plugs ?

Thanks for reporting back and good luck,

 

lol, no, beer does not influence my ability to do work properly. Although yes, I may enjoy a beverage or two whilst wrenching, adding that to my story is more for entertainment value than to offer an explanation for anything.

So, that being said, the original swap at 106K miles, every plug was properly torqued to factory spec. The one that "blew" out appears to have been unthreading itself hence the unidentified ticking noise I had leading up to the blow. When I reinstalled a plug in that location I did not recheck the others. Maybe someday. Or most certainly if I start to hear a ticking sound again.

Meanwhile, I finally wore out the accelerator cable at 120K miles. That's another exciting moment when the frayed cable sticks at some partial open throttle value...

Been a good truck tho. I beat on it hard and keep the fluids fresh. Can't complain otherwise really.

 

No metalic anti-seze used on the plug threads?

 

I just reread my original post as I figured I would have mentioned that, but didn't see it. So, in the absence of saying I used antisieze, I would have therefore used a drop of oil on the threads. Same as I've done for years on vehicles.

 

There are two threads concerning plug changes in Modular Motors I've always thought would be most helpful:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ed-torque.html

Best advice is obtained in posts #3 & #7.

For very interesting reading:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ead-heads.html

Why that thread ^^ isn't part of both Modular Motors forums tech folders escapes me.

Hope this helps!