So If I spray my plugs everyday for a few days and let it soak for a few days, would it really prevent spark plug breakage. Just saw a thread with quite a few broken plugs with ceramic in the engine so now wondering what is the 100% sure shot method.

what about over dosing on a fuel additive to breakup any carbon from the inside?

 

I'm sure spraying them would help. It defiantly couldn't hurt. As far as overdosing the fuel with additive, I am not sure if they would help. When I did my spark plugs I sprayed them with WD 40 2 times a day for 3 days. Not much. Just enough. But I can't say if it did or didn't help. I was just crossing my fingers the whole time. I think the key is, when taking the old ones out just go SLOW. Really take your time on it. An extra 2 hours itaking your time isway better than spending at least a grand at the mechanic to fish one of those buggers out of the cylinder. When I bought my spark plugs at o'Reilly's I went ahead and rented the spark plug extraction kit. Thank god I didn't need it, but I really credit that to all the YouTube videos I watched and all the research I did. If you do your homework you will be fine man! And just a little peice of advice. Pick up some anti-seize to put on the thready of your new plugs. That way next time you change them, it won't be near as nerve racking. I hope this helps man and best of luck to you!
Please let me know how it goes.

I love my ford but Jesus... What were they thinking when they did the spark plugs?!? Horrible design

 

Heres my post from May 2014...My truck is a 2005.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-pictures.html

Take your time....
Gage

 

Spend a couple of days shooting at targets and screaming at the kids, followed by hours of deep breathing and meditating.
Then, spray Kroil around your plugs and hope for the best.

 

There is no 100% fool proof method on getting the 2 piece plugs out without the possibility of breaking some.

For best results, follow the instructions on the TSB and send me a bottle of single malt scotch. McCallan 25 will work.

 

Definitely OD on the carbon cleaner through the motor. Another thing to do is crack the plugs just a hair the night before the removal and then put the penetrating oil in there. I wasn't brave enough to do my own in my 06 V10 but it did cost me $500 to have them changed!

 

WD40 will do very little to break through rust n crust. PB Blaster, Kroil Oil or Castles Thrust are proven rust penetrant rust busters. I have all 3 and will use each for different applications. Id start with the Kroil on spark plugs. Yes break them loose first then apply the Kroil. These plugs will come out with finesse. From years of having the greasy end of a wrench in my hands I have learned that feel when something feels like its gonna gall or break. Thats when an experienced wrench backs off and employs some tricks of the trade and other learned methods. i have not had one break yet. It did take patients. The 300 in-line 6s Ford used until recently was notorious for difficult plug changes, The threads stuck past the head and into the combustion chamber. After many miles the threads would cake with carbon. The only way to get them out without stripping the head was an impact. Yep and impact. The hammers in the wrench did something a ratchet wouldnt. Ive had moderate success using an air ratchet on the 5.4s... turned way down. As well as a 3/8 air hammer turned way down so the hammers just work. Forward and back ward with the Kroil...out the bass turds come. The gentile hammer action backs those stupid 5.4 2 piece plugs right out. But thats after a week of Kroil and moving them back n forth. A garage will not take this time.

 

Nothing you can do will guarantee 100% success. It was probably my post that you read about porcelain braking off into the engine considering I posted it within the past 2 weeks.


A few things that I may not have mentioned in that post that I probably should have.
1. I have determined that the porcelain braking off was my fault. The three plugs that left porcelain in the cylinder all had the electrode still in the plug end when I used the pusher. As the pusher pushed the electrode and porcelain out the bottom of the shield, the electrode was bent by the looped portion of the shield which caused the electrode to add side stresses to the porcelain resulting in the broken porcelain at the tip. On the three broken plugs where the electrode was able to be extracted prior to using the pusher, no porcelain was broken at all. Make sure you remove the electrode before using the pusher and you should be fine.


2. I keep hearing people say to use the anti-seize on the threads when putting new plugs in. That's all fine and dandy and its a good thing to do, but the threads aren't the problem. Its the shield surrounding the porcelain that adheres to the head by means of corrosion, not the threads. So when you put the new plugs in, put anti-seize on the threads if you want, but most importantly put the anti seize on the shield. Make sure to keep the anti-seize off the looped end of the shield though, everywhere else is good. Again, it's the shield sticks in the heads, not the threads.


3. There are multiple tools by different manufacturers, but the Lisle seems to be the best. They make a sparkplug removal tool specifically for the Ford motors with this problem, it's the Lisle 65600 if I remember correctly and costs $100 from a parts store but you can get it far cheaper on Amazon if you look around. Get it.


4. I ran two tanks of carbon buildup remover through the truck before I ever started the removal process. Judging by the looks of the shields, it did little to nothing. Maybe the deposits were too heavy or the carbon buildup remover too weak, I dunno, but it didn't help much at all.


5. Before removing the plugs, I warmed the motor up to operating temperature then let it cool down enough to where I could touch the heads with only mild discomfort from the temperature. I broke the sparkplugs free 1/8 to 1/4 turn then sprayed carb. and choke cleaner in the spark plug cavity and let it sit over night. The following day when I went to remove them plugs, the only two that came out clean where the ones that I thought I might have had too much cleaner sprayed into the cavity because the fluid filled up to a point above the hex nut of the spark plugs. I guess too much carb cleaner isn't such a bad thing unless get to a point where the volume creates a hydro lock situation.


6. You WANT to hear creaking, groaning, and popping when pulling the plugs. Those are the sounds that the shields make when breaking free from the cylinder heads. If the spark plug is turning quietly and freely, it's already broken so you might as well continue to back it out because you WILL be using the extraction tool next.


7. The extraction tool works GREAT. Its far quicker to intentionally break your sparkplugs and use the tool to get the broken shield out than to soak over night and go through the entire "prevention" process. I wont be doing any of the over night soaking and patience thing next time, I'll simply break the ones that break and use the tool to get them out. Now that I've used the tool, I could break all 8, use the tool to back them out, and it wouldn't take me more than 2-3 hours to do the entire job.


8. Get the tool.


9. Get the tool!


10. GET THE TOOL!!!


Now that I look back on it, a spark plug change on these motors isnt near as scary as people would have you believe. Like with any project, having and using the proper tools is essential. If you chose not to do it right, its your headache and no one to blame but yourself.

 

Use Kroil, not carb cleaner that probably just evaporates.

 

I did my 2005 5.4l F250 at 95,000. Added Techron fuel additive to almost every fill up for 2 months prior. Broke 4 out of 8 of the plugs removing them. The tool easily removed the 4 that broke. Lots of carbon and looked like the gap was worn. I will just do them every 50K to be safe. Also, replace the boots and use lots of dielectric grease and some high temp antisieze. The other issue I had was an exhaust leak on the right side exhaust manifold and fixed that. Now a year later have a small leak on the left exhaust manifold. More fun.

 

how about an electric impact gun....maybe the tap, tap, tap will loosen the carbon.

 

Doesn't Ford recommend just cracking the plugs and loading it up with Motorcraft carb cleaner? The idea is to break up the carbon build up on the plugs and the cleaner will combust in the cylinders. There are lots of great videos on You Tube showing the procedure.

Good luck!

 

Gangly....good info!

 

Kroil is good stuff, there are a few others, such as PB Blaster etc that also work.

WD 40 is not going to do anything to help removing the plugs. Its really nothing but a water displacer best used around electrical connections. It does offer a bit of lube and it evaporates very quickly.

It is a great cleaner for things and cleaning often results in proper operation but its not much of a lube.

 

Ford recommends spraying their Motorcraft Carburetor Tune-Up Cleaner after breaking the sparkplugs loose 1/4 to 1/8 turn. Like most carb. cleaners, I assume its a simple carbon deposit remover but I could be wrong. I wouldn't hesitate to use something other than motorcraft, I believe most carb cleaners are the same and probably perform similarly.


I know when I checked the following day I still had carb cleaner in the spark plug orifices on a few of the plugs. Temps were in the 50's over night for what its worth.