I have a F150 which has developed a miss or hesitation when driving. I took it into my mechanic and he told me this:

This year truck is famous for needing a tune up but the problem is that ford redesigned the spark plugs for these years of trucks. The problem is hat carbon builds up and when u go to remove them the plugs break and sometimes you have to take the heads off to get them out, he said that this would cost around I 2500 is one breaks!


So my question then becomes is this the norm for my V8 2005 Ford F150?

My truck has 85,556 miles on it.

Thanks for any input,
Kevin

 

Yes, prepare for the plugs to "break". Really it's a separation as the plug is a 2-piece design. If your mechanic wants $2500+ if he breaks one, then he doesn't know what he's doing and you should seek out a new mechanic. Some preparation and the Lisle tool and this job isn't soo bad. It's pretty common for 04-early 07 trucks. FYI, you don't have to remove the head to unstick a plug, that is unless you don't know what you're doing.

 

Thank you appreciate the advice!

 

Yeah, 100% agree. This 'mechanic' doesn't know what he's talking about or is trying to swindle you. 5 out of the 8 plugs broke when I did mine, even following the Ford removal TSB. I wasn't expecting miracles though, and the plugs looked like they had all of the truck's 115k miles on them. The electrodes had about .060 to .070 clearance! The lisle tool removed all of the broken plugs. It was a PITA job (as is most everything on these trucks), but well worth it.

 

How do you get the plugs out without breaking them and if they do come apart how do you get the pieces without pulling the head off.I'm just saying we need more explanation. Thanks

 

I did a summary on my plug replacement experience a couple years back. I took them out at around 60K with no huge issues. They creaked like a SOB when twisting them out, but none broke.

I think the trick is to use top tier gas for the truck's life and run a couple bottles of full strength concentrated Techron (not the watered down stuff sold by the dozen) and soak the things in Kroil before you take them out. A few cents more for good gas is cheaper than taking out broken pieces of sparkplug. Good gas minimizes carbon buildup and techron should dissolve some of whatever is left in there. My plugs came out fairly clean, but there was some carbon around the shank where it normally welds itself into the head

 

creaking sound is what you want to hear , it means the tip shield is turning in the carbon , when they don't make any noise is when the tip breaks off (in my experience) I think driving it like you stole it , along with good gas helps keep down the carbon. search for my thread, and look at the pictures of my plugs at 90,000