Ok I Have a 2000 f250 v10, I bought it about 6 years ago and never changed the plugs due to the horror stories I keep reading about. It finally hit 200,000 miles and was running rough I decided to give it a shot since the dealer wants to charge over a $1000 for this job. I bought a torque wrench to get the recommended 14lbs of torque. I have run into a few problems and concerns. First the 3 plugs I have changed so far on the passenger side all have come out wet with oil? Is this a bad seal somewhere?? all the ones on the driver side have been dry. The second thing is while taking the coil pack out on the 3rd one back passenger side the bolt holding the coil pack in broke flush with the motor. How do I get this out?? Is it a ground screw or is it there just to hold the coil? I tried using a extractor set but its a tough screw just ate my bit. The last question so far is the far back plug on drivers side wont come out. It just spins when trying to loosen it. I can tighten it but it wont come free is the thread stripped on the block or the plug??? I would appreciate any help. Thanks in Advance

 

I changed mine few months ago at 80 K miles. I guess, I was lucky that I did not experience any of the issues you are having .

1-The broken holding bolt (for #3 COP) is just for holding the COP tightly over the plug (no grounding ),

2-Plug at driver's side far back (#10) : make sure all debris blown out with compressed air . Soak it up with "PB blaster " , it might just loosen it . You can invest $70 .00 for a bore-scope camera (@ Harbour Freight) to see what is going on down there closely (if you have to ),

Do not rush , take your time .

Good luck,

 

Thank you so much for your advise! I soaked that plug this morning with PB Blaster before I left for work and tried it when I got home and It came right out!!! I finished changing the remaining 3 plugs after that and tied up coil pack 3 as tight to the plug as possible with 3 zip ties. After hooking everything back up I fired it up. It sounded horrible like it was going to die out for the first 20 sec and then smoothed out. It sounds like it is missing at least on 1 (sometimes 2) cylinders at Idle though. When you rev up the rpms it sounds ok till you let off the gas then it misses as the rpms decrease. No code on the PCM to match which cylinder is not firing. Glad I got them changed but I might end up taking it to someone to diagnose the miss. Thank you again for your help though. I really appreciate it!!!

 

Did you replace the boots on the coil pack when you replaced the plugs? At 200000 miles they have probably given their all.

 

x2 on the coil boots and springs. Good deal on changing the plugs out. The oil in the spark plug well is probably as simple as a valve cover gasket. My 4.6 lincoln is doing that now.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

 

Branching off this thread guys, would new spark plugs help me at 200k? I dont know the history and ive put 50k on this truck since I bought it. Im a diesel guy so i know nothing, should I change the boots too?

 

Generally plugs aren't much good after 50K miles. If your truck has never had plugs changed I'm shocked it even starts now!

Use nothing but the Motorcraft or Autolite plugs spec'd for your motor, NAPA sells Belden boots for about $5 each (p/n 702418), have enough on hand to change all of them, return those not needed. If they're cracked, have lost flexibility or ability to effectively seal out moisture change them; they're cheap and can cause a world of problems if left unattended.

COP's should be good, especially if you're not showing any misfire codes from the CES or SES or MIL lamp on the dash.

In your case I'd proceed very, very carefully and find a good thread here with a step-by-step procedure and follow it. I deviate just a bit in that I use nickel based anti-seize and torque to 21 ft/lbs. Use a torque wrench if only to have consistent repeatable results.

Anyway hope this helps!

 

So I've seen two different torque specs. Why is that? Why nickel grade anti l seize? Why only those two brands? Would I be safer to have Ford do it in case it pops a plug so they can fix it?

 

Factory specs call for 14 ft/lbs torque but they've been known to work loose at that low of a setting. 21-23 ft/lbs is a safe yet effective torque, won't injure a sound head with intact plug hole threads. Mostly a matter of personal preference along with experience on the Modular Motors.



It has the highest rated continuous temperature rating. Also whether or not to use anti-seize with platinum-plated plugs stirs up a bit of controversy here but if changing at 50K miles foregoing its use might not be a problem. There doesn't seem to be any known downsides to its use which is why I apply it to my own plugs.

They have been repeatedly shown to NOT cause problems as most any other brand. Its not a quality of plug rather its about design and materials used, they are made to the exact spec's Ford originally designed.

Reading all the Modular Motor threads about plugs and you'll see the constant advice about using only those two brands----we can't all be wrong can we?

If a plug pops most likely they will NOT repair it for free even if it happens while they're removing plugs. If it pops after a while they'll most likely claim it was not their fault and charge you then too. The ONLY advantage to having a garage do it is if/when the plug threads strip out they can repair it same day even though you'll stand the expense. DIY and get crazy during removal or installation and damage threads you're forced to arrange in-frame head repair yourself of DIY that too.

 

Here are the plugs the truck has 203148 miles on it. I don't know when they changed last but these are still motorcraft plugs!! As burned as they are They have been in there a while!