As a 16 year mechanic on primarily Ford fleet, I wanted to put my $0.02 in on the spark plug changes. I've heard the impact method, the sea foam method, the carb clean, acetone, voodoo juice method. Engine warm, engine cold, high octane, low octane. Have a buddy rev it, have a gremlin pray to gods, it goes on and on. Personally, I think the best way to do it is pull the plugs and hope for the best. The other methods might work but when it comes down to it, one or more will most likely break. The Lisle extraction tool or something similar is a necessity for anyone trying these plugs. I did an 05 tonight that broke 6 out of 8 plugs. Use the tool, clean the cylinder, and move to the next. I'm not a big fan of leaving large porcelain or the ground strap (which the tool says won't happen) in the cylinder so I use a bore-scope to check each hole. Shop-vac with a small piece of fuel line hose duct taped to the end

One of the 2 that came out vs the new ones. Mileage was 99,000


One tip on the extractor


The full set out. Plus a broken blinker switch.


Piece of porcelain on the piston


The shop vac set up
, long blow nozzle and some frustration will clean the holes. Anti-seize has caused more problems than helped in my experience. Had a couple of trucks come back for misfires due to anti-seize working it's way down and fouling the plugs. Take them out dry, put them in dry. As long as they thread in easy til the end, call 'er good. I don't recommend Champions one piece design, have had a few come back with the porcelain breaking off and shrouding the tip. Use Autolite or Motorcraft, know what you're getting into, read every post you want to, no beer til the you start the truck without and a misfire, and you're done! Back cylinders on the passenger side are much easier with a good selection of extensions, adapters, and wobbles.

Happy wrenching!

 

Wanted to add that plug boots/springs should be changed too. Another $40 dollars is worth not having a call back plus they seal the hole better.

 

I've done two sets of plugs, one on each one of my trucks, and they all came out without breaking, one set was what I believe to be, an original set at 187,000 miles, and twisting the spark plug back and forth a tiny bit at a time seemed to be the trick for that one. My second truck (new to me) had 90,000 miles and I bought all new plugs and had the lisle tool on hand just in case, but it turns out they had just been replaced recently, so they were still like new when I replaced them. They were NGK, so I followed through and replaced them with Motorcraft. just for the piece of mind.