Yesterday my number 4 plug started to misfire, so I went home and got my box of plugs and coils. I pulled the dog house and went in and was able to get the coil off the plug without issue, but when I dropped the plug socket down the hole to back the plug out it wouldnt set onto the plug. I made sure I had the correct size socket, kept trying. finally I got out my milwaukee scope camera and dropped it into the hole to see what the issue was. to my shagrin there was a ton of muck (thick black grease looking muck) all around the plug stopping the socket from setting down on her properly.
I didnt have my air compressor or anything to get down into the hole at that angle to get the gunk out so I put the socket back in and just worked her back and forth and finally got her to set onto the plug. I was hoping to use the socket to force the gunk up into the socket and pull both the plug and gunk out. When the plug came out she was dirty but the gunk didnt come out like I had hoped.
Nothing I could do, so I inserted the new plug and tightened her down, the socket did not slip which was good I thought. Put the new coil on and tightened her down.
Cleared the codes, and took her for a drive. She drove better than she did before replacing everything but there was still something wrong. I got back and parked and pulled codes again and she still had a misfire on number four.
The old coil and plug had not been changed since I bought the van back in 2012. so the shape the coil was in she needed to be replaced. The plug as well. But changing them didnt stop the misfire. I go by the line up of the plugs as to the number the OBDII codes say, for instance the passenger front is 1 then 2 3 and 4 and the driver front is 5 then 6 7 and 8.
Is the OBDII calling for order number like above or firing number?
Also, if I pull the plug again, and use carb cleaner to wash all that gunk into the cylinder then put the plug back will that hurt anything? or will it just burn it out? the only way I can think of to clean the hole is to either do that and allow it to go into the cylinder or to spray it with carb cleaner and then blow it out with compressed air, but thats going to create a huge mess in the engine bay.
Suggestions please.
Oh, this is a 2003 E250 5.4
Woolf

 

Spray cleaner inside with the spark plug in place and use one of these from the parts store..

 

That's a slick idea...

 

I would use compressed air to blow out the spark plug hole. You can catch most of the splatter with a rag.
I would not want junk falling into the cylinder.

 

Too late
He already pulled the plug and replaced it,

 

Looks like you didn't read the whole thing, he's talking about pulling the plug again because it is still misfiring, and wondering what to do.
And my advice would be the same either way, wait until you have compressed air available to blow out the spark plug hole before removing the spark plugs.

 

yup......
I wouldn't have pulled the plug until I knew it was clean in the first place

 

Mine was number 1. Blew the plug. Oreilys sold the repair kit. Important to tap no more than a full turn and back it out. Cover the tap in grease each time to keep shavings from dropping. Ended up replacing plug, coil and injector. Been working well.