A quick blurb about these useless to Ford owners product. Having a '99 250 with 109k and never having changed or checked the plugs due to cost for someone else to do and having looked at the eng compartment to do the job myself, decided not to. So, it is no so suprising that when I started out to move from VA to OR I blew out a sparkplug less than 300 mi into the trip. Luckily, had a friend who had just purchased an '05 man trans 6.0L diesel 250 to trailer me back home.

Before we moved it back, I consulted mr Haynes and removed all the COPs I could get to (all but the rear 2 drivers side), the second one back on the pass side is the plug that blew out and it pretty much melted that coil. Discovering the stripped threads, just knew that I was in for trouble. Removing the head and replacing it, etc.

My buddy that towed me back has a built '67 Mustang that a Ford guru done for him that was able to heliacoil that plug without removing the head. He had to modify the tool to fit down the plug hole, he the turned the engine over a few times to blow out any aluminum shavings. As we discussed, there is always an outside chance one of these will find its was into the valve train, but he never has had problem with this situation. Any way, almost anything is worth a try if you're looking at removing the head, which pretty much means you're removing everything else too.

Now, he put in the Bosch Platinums I had purchased a couple of yrs ago to install myself but never did. The truck would start and idle fine, but under a load while driving or accellerating, it would miss and fall on its face. After talking to some other mechs, and finding your forum thru Google, I realized the plugs were probably the problem. One mech adv Autolite Double platinum, which I then went and purchased from Napa. The forum mostly adv OEM Motorcraft only, but there was one post saying he used Autolites and they did fine. I can attest to that, we installed these and the truck hasen't ran this good in years. Just wanted to say thanks for the info on the site, this is my first post but plan on using the site often. I'll try not to be so windy next time.

 

Welcome to the forum
Glad to hear you got it straightened out. I too have heard that these engines don't like anything but Motorcraft or Autolite double platinum plugs.
My dad's 89 F150 lost a 5.0 due to a Bosch Platinum plug. The platinum electrode fell out of the plug and went down between the piston and cylinder wall leaving a big groove and letting way to much compression into the crankcase which blew oil all into the aircleaner.
Long story short, that $1.69 plug cost us about a grand to replace the longblock, not to mention a couple of days of my labor.

Jimmy

 

Appreciate the welcome, and response, it's cool how you get emailed when there is a thread response. Anyway, I took those bosch back to Advanced Auto today and demanded a refund. Too bad we can't get refunded by the manufacturer for the labor spent for changing plugs on a 5.4 L. I told the guy at the counter he should never sell those plugs to a 5.4 or 4.6 owner, I can't believe they offer this crap when it doesn't work in this equipment.

I am just glad I got out of my predicament without having to break the engine apart like you did, that is not fun. I don't know how much stuff you had to take off of that 5.0 but I'm sure it was a lot.

 

I had the same problem with my 3.0L Ranger after I bought it. The previous owner had installed Bosch plugs, which caused a mis. Bottom line, DO NOT
use Bosch plugs in any Ford vehicle!!!!

 

Welcome to FTE!!

Too bad you didn't see this website before your plug problem. This article could have been real helpfull!

http://www.fordtrucks.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=104027