I have a 2000 F150, 5.4, with 105K miles on it and a 2001 Expedition, 5.4 with 106K miles on it. Getting ready to change the spark plugs on both and plan to have the dealer do it and see if they can get it right since there have been so many problems with the plugs blowing out after having them changed. Is there anything specific that I should be watching for with the dealer to try and prevent having the blow out problem? Thanks for any help.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you're brave enough to try replacing the plugs yourself there are instructions for doing that near the top of this forum.
Most of us dealer techs have replaced enough of these pulgs now that it's no big deal.
Usually if we hear of plugs blowing out it's original plugs or ones that have been in there a long time. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Thanks Racerguy. I plan on taking it to the Ford Dealer so I will at least have a warranty, for all of the good that it may do if I have any problems. So based on your response, after getting the original plugs changed out I should be okay with replacements with a smaller chance of a blow out if done properly, correct?

 

In my experience yes.

 

Those should be fine becasue in 99-00 they went from 3-4 threads for the spark plugs to 5-6, also the new plugs that they sell now look different because they have iridium tips and last much longer than the original. I work at a dealer and suggest to go to one to get it done, get new boots as well, parts are $20 a hole
or there abouts, and labor is about 2.5-3.0 hrs. See if they can clean your mass air flow meter hot wire, it can get dirty and really decrease gas mileage, especially with a K&N air filter, and can eventually lead to driveability problems that will puzzle even the best mechanics.

-Ryan

 

Motorcraft platinums and wires cost me $126 from the dealer last year. Took me 5 hours (I'm obviously no expert) and some blood was shed, but 12,000 miles and 12 months later, it's still running smooth.

 

Some time in 00 all 4.6 went to cop, so the boots are cheaper, the fastest time I have clocked on a f-150 was 31 min, a expedition with dual climate control, 37 min. you have to have the special spark plug socket, and two cv elbows, and a long extension to do it efficiantly. And that was after doing about 50-60 of them.

-Ryan

 

Thanks to all for the info. I will be going to the local dealer soon to get it done.

 

Motorcraft plugs use platinum, not "iridium".

Steve

 

I have a 2000 F-150 with the 4.6 Changed my first set of plugs around 70,000 miles. I have about 115,00 on it now and was driving home from work, 25 miles or so. Stopped at my sisters for a minute and continued home. Shorty after I left her house my truck started skipping. No lights came on, I didn't drop oil pressure, raise temp, nothing changed but the skip. I thought first thing to do is just change plugs, pretty easy fix. Or atleast a place to start. I'm no pro with the plugs but this forum really helped me out. I had all the tools I needed and even an air tank to blow out the plug holes before removing the plugs. When I got to the 3rd plug from the front on the driver side. I blew it out and it was full of water. Pretty strange but didn't think a whole lot of it. After I finished changing the plugs I took it for a test ride and it was fine. Drove it a few times after that maybe 100 miles or so. Drove to work one day when it was snowing. After work I went to a local store about 5 miles away, left my truck running while I went it. When I came out it was skipping again. The "sevice engine soon" light came on once for a couple min then went off. A couple days later I opened up plug 3 and blew it out thinking that it was the water issue. Sure enough full of water again. I put the COP back on and took it for a test ride. Started fine and drove good for about a mile or so then started skipping, the "service engine soon" light came on this time and didn't go off. I plan on getting the code tool from Auto Zone this weekend but was wondering if anyone has run into this problem? I'm thinking it might be that COP but not sure. And at $62 a piece I'ld rather not make that mistake. I read on here something about COP boots. Can U bye just the boot and will that help my problem of water getting to my plug?

 

Hi snoopdog and welcome to FTE

Is it just plain water that's in the hole? Sometimes a leaking heater hose will drip water on the COP, or in that area, and cause problems.
I put dielectric grease on the boot where it seals to the head to help keep moisture out. I'm not sure how much it helps but it makes me feel better
You can buy the COP boots seperately but unless there is a problem with yours I doubt it will make any difference.
If you think you have a bad COP you can swap it with another one and see if the problem follows. NUmber 1 COP is easy to access so that's the one I would swap with. That way if the COP that you put in the #1 hole is bad it's not too hard to replace.

 

Yep racerguy is right, swap the suspect coil and see if your code changes to a p0301, then you know it's the coil, if you find any water or coolant in the holes change the plug and boot, that usually fixes it, unless the cop died at around the same time. And by the way projectsho89 in about late 02 early 03 the motorcraft plugs went from agsf 32p to agsf 32pm, the newer style says platinum but actually has an iridium tip, I think you can only get these from a dealer so autozone does not have them they have the old style.

-Ryan

 

You're quite mistaken.

It's not iridium, it's PLATINUM. That's what the 'p' in the part number stands for.

If you want iridium on the electrodes, you need NGKs or Densos. Motorcraft doesn't use iridium.

If you have substantiative information that indicates otherwise, please provide technical references.

Steve

 

I have done the research and the person I heard it from, who has a wealth of knowledge was mistaken, I went to motorcraft and it has a nickel coating around it, to reduce rust, hence not ripping threads out when they are taken out. In the article he read they were compared to iridium plugs, my bad, I admit when I'm wrong and thank you for pointing that out to me so I am not giving false information. By any means the new plugs are better than the old ones, in life