Hello，

I got this van a few weeks ago. Got 248K on it. Did not know if PO did any maintenance on it. It worked perfectly fine until now. #8 cylinder is misfiring after several days of raining. Should I replace only the problem #8 with new wire, plug and coil or should I replace all the spark plugs, coils, spark plugs wires? While doing so, I will also replace the motor oil.

Need help on the following:

1. Best spark plugs for 4.6L? Copper or platinum? Brand & part number?? Also, coils, spark plug wires? From dealer or from auto part stores?
2. I heard spark plugs broken in half during removal is a common problem for Ford E-series. I plan to spray a 50/50 mixture of ATF and acetone in advance to help loosen the plugs. Is it Ok to do so or I should stick to PB Blast?
3. I plan to use WIX oil filter and Rotella T6 for engine oil. Are they OK?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


Kin

 

I would go with as much OEM as you can afford.

I just changed out the oil for my new to me van and I used a motorcraft filter.

I would use OEM plugs also. It looks like a pain in the butt and you should do it right the first time.

 

Change the oil because you should.

Change the COP on cylinder 8 and see if that fixes the problem. Then do the other work at your leisure. COP's are the most common reason for a miss. Some people swear by OEM; others have had good luck with lower priced COP's. You may choose to replace all of yours, or just stay on top of it with an OBD2 reader and change them when they fail... Some of the cheap Ebay ones seem to have a pattern of early failure.

No broken plugs for any E van. Every E van had the 2 valve 4.6/5.4/6.8 engine. These could blow plugs out (due to too few threads in the cyl head) but they will not stick. That was the 3 valve engine in the pickups, Expy, etc. So read up on torquing new plugs in a 2V engine and don't crank them in hard and weaken the threads.

Motorcraft plugs in the standard heat range are as good as you can get.

Motorcraft oil filters are best and 5W20 or 5W30 Motorcraft synthetic blend oil is as good as anything else. I have used Rotella 5W40 for years in my old BMW but I don't think they have the right weights for your van.

George

 

Thanks.

I remember smelling something burnt right before the Check Engine light comes on. Haven't got the chance to open up the dog house to check it yet.

Do E150, E250 and E350 use the same COP?


Kin

 

The 2V 4.6 COP is ultra common and I think it goes across passenger cars and all 2V 5.4's also. If you just buy a cheap one and screw it on, if that doesn't fix the problem you have a spare one to keep in the glove box...

Holy crap, I just looked on Amazon and you can get a whole set of 8 bottom feeder COP's for like $50... Motorcraft are $40-50 each and probably more at the dealer.

I have one replacement Motorcraft on cyl 6 (done at the dealer for big bux) and a yellow Accel on cyl 5 (done by me because I could do it from under the hood). Both originals popped right after 100k miles. My plan is to replace them when and if I get cylinder misses...

Good luck,
George

 

Are those plugs difficult to get to? Any special tools needed?

Thanks?

Kin

 

No, the plugs aren't nearly as hard to get to as people think based on the fact that it's a van. Nothing other than a good selection of extensions and plug socket needed. I'm not sure if you had cops back in 2000, but I do know that the outside corners of the V tend to be where trouble starts with the valves. If you get into it and happen to have a compression tester, I'd throw that in and see what kind of compression you have on #8. Exhaust valves start leaking after a lot of miles. Only cost effective fix is to change the engine IMHO. However, you can drive quite a while with leaking valves.

Oh and I've never had big problems pulling plugs. Clean out the grit with air if you can so the socket sits down nicely, but other than that I've never had trouble. I think broken plugs were more of an issue with the 3 valve truck engines. Oil, filter, PB blaster, whatever floats your boat. None of that really is going to make or break it.

 

Thanks to all the advice.

You guys are life savers!!!!!


Kin

 

I aim to please.

 

Took the dog house out. #8 is under a rail. Look like I need to take/ loosen the rail above it to get to the COP. Any better way to do it?


Kin

 

Maybe this helps? https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ug-change.html

Okay a bit of hands on personal experience with your anticipated maintenance........

-No real need to replace every COP just because once is bad, especially if the budget is a concern. One of my E250's has over 275K miles still running on its original Motorcraft OEM COP's.

-Avoid cheap COP's----more often than not they've proven to be unreliable, not at all long lived. Yes the better brands like MotorCraft or NAPA's top quality parts cost more, whether that's the biggest concern over reliability would be your call.

-Use Motorcraft spec'd plugs, SP479. Time after time these have proven to be reliable and work perfectly in the Modular Motors. Use a bit of nickle based anti-seize on the plug threads, torque them to 21-23 ft/lbs---use a torque wrench because this value is VERY important----no other reliable way to achieve this setting.

FWIW changing plugs at 50K miles is better from a few aspects regardless that Ford claims they'll go 100K miles. Others will disagree but its worked for me over the years, its cheap and easy enough to do and as far as I'm concerned is just plain good maintenance.

Removing plugs, especially those of unknown age by your idea is good, can't hurt anything following that method. Its entirely possibly they're not seized in place, first turn of the socket will reveal what's ahead.

IF your plugs are indeed seized or difficult to remove doing them all might take a day or two, allowing the penetrating fluid to do its job. Keep in mind its entirely possible the over ballyhoo'd problems with blown out spark plugs could very well be caused by careless or rushed removal of older plugs. Slow removal is one good way to greatly reduce any possibly of user caused plug hole thread damage.

-Removing at least one front seat makes changing plugs on both sides of the engine so much easier for the first timer. I myself can/do change most of the plugs from inside the cabin, only #'s 1, 7 & 8 being done from the front outside. I also remove the air cleaner housing, disconnecting the duct leading to the throttle body aside for maximum access. Those who do this regularly can avoid this but again for the first timer this is helpful.

Your oil and filter choices should follow Ford's spec's---I use Valvoline synthetic blend and Motorcraft FL-820S from Amazon, buy 'em by the dozen for less than $4 each.

Hope this is helpful!

 

Just to be sure, standing in front of the van, #8 is the furthest plug inside, at the right corner by the driver's seat. Right?

OBDII id #8 misfire, so I am just going to skip the other 7 for testing.

Thanks.

 

Driver's side, back plug on that bank.

FWIW Modular Motors plugs are numbered front-to-rear, passenger side being #1 and driver's side front being #5 IF we're talking a V8, not V10.

 

Thanks, JWA.

I read through the whole thread you posted on #8 cylinder plug change and I also watch the video in this thread. I really appreciated the info.

One more question: Since I plan to keep this van as long as possible, I want to keep its engine in best shape. I usually use Chevron complete system cleaner and pour it in the gas tank once a month for all my vehicles OR it is better to use seafoam to clean the engine? I have never use Seafoam before, don't know how good it is.

Thanks.

 

No one knows the answer to that.

They're both good. Do one this month and the other one next month. Repeat and enjoy.