I did a quickie check of the easier ones last night but I will make some time to check all of them this weekend.

 

I did a little WOT time and 1.5 hours of stop&go traffic, today, and afterwards it seems like a plug is loose again. Not real loose yet, but making a little snapping noise and pinging on one cylinder again.

Never had plugs loosen before.

 

So far no problem, they are tight. Loks like the teflon and antiseize worked. Gonna give it a couple more weeks and check again.

 

Good. I'm going to check my plugs tomorrow afternoon; it's been a few weeks since I changed them. One cylinder isn't quite right; might be a loose again (this time Champion plugs).

 

thats good to hear, i like to use anti-sieze on almost everything i know ill be taking off in the "short" term of my truck.

 

Champion 130 plugs were all tight.

Broke the #1 plug off, though, cause I was clumsy with the wrench. I kludged it back together to where I think it might actually spark and get me to the NAPA store this morning. I like power steering, but did Ford have to put the pump bracket so close to the block? Not like the 6 is a wide engine...

 

I had that prob with No. 6 when using Autolite, Bosch, so on and so on. Once i put motorcraft plugs in Have yet to have that problem again. No more backouts.

 

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It has been a few weeks since I tried the teflon/anti-seize thing and it is working. Not perfect but helping a lot. I checked all of them this past week-end and got a very slight movement on #6 only. All others were fine. I did have to alter the original proceedure to get them tight enough though. I had to fold the tape to half width so that it would only cover the middle portion of the threads. If I tried to catch the bottom thread by the time I got enough on to be tight I could not get it started (without fear of crossthreading) so I only wrapped the middle portion then a good smear of anti-seize on top of the tape and remaining threads.

 

I'm using Champion plugs, and they're all tight.

 

awsome! glad to hear!

 

This is kind of a shot in the dark but I had an interesting experiece with a Toyota several years ago....sorry for saying that out loud.

Any way,

I had about 160k on this beat-up old corolla and was able to keep the power up by advancing the distributer little by little as it was on it's final death throws. Finnally, a few buddies of mine and I took it for a final joy ride to the junk yard. I advance the timing as much as I could to really get it running. After about 15 minutes of tearing it up, it starded to miss and stall. When I popped the hood I found one plug wire popped off and, if I remember right, all the plugs were loose.

What I'm getting at is that it may have something to do with a miss or maybe a faulty plug wire. I can't imagine what the mecahnics would be but it wouldn't hurt to take a look.
Randy

 

Methinks pinging, which the sixes are noted for, contributes to loosening the plugs. The six doesn't use crush washers on the plugs, which would increase possibility of coming loose. My Autolite plugs all came loose while I had a chronic lean condition. The Autolites came loose less often when I began correcting the lean conditions, but were still loose. Champions have never come loose, even before I corrected the lean condition. Plus I expect a little more from plugs that are ten cents more each.

That goes along with Wik's Toyota story. Advancing timing produces power, but it also produces pinging. Rattle your engine to pieces. Most old-time auto repair books state that pinging [up hills, under load] will cause engine damage. A Ford six is too good to be damaged, and [forgive me], Toyota makes good motors too. That's why it loosened it's plugs instead of throwing rods.

The funny thing is the Autolites look really well built- smooth finish everywhere, nice blued/dark metal base. The Champions look cheap, like white metal, with rough ceramic. Maybe it's the rough, cheap finish that helps them bite and stay put.

When I was a kid playing with lawnmowers, Champion plugs ran the best. I kept a cache of old plugs I pulled out of parts mowers, and all of them were good. Clean, gap, destroy vegetation. Couldn't say that about the AC plugs. I think I ran across a Nippondenso once, and it was OK. Still partial to Champion.