Engine cleaners are nothing new. Seafoam is just the latest buzzword. We dont have much carbon with todays lead-free fuels. Not to say we dont have carbon buildup at all. Carbon Buildup was really pronounced on lead based fuels.

I dont know the ingredients of Seafoam, but doubt they are much more than a high detergent content. MMO used to be the buzzword, and it was used the same way as Seafoam, including in the crankcase. ATF is also a highly refined oil with high detergents and I have use it on many engines and it will break up sludge and clean the engine. Pour the oil into the carb (or pull into a vacuum port) pour gradually until almost empty then pour the rest in quickly so as to choke the engine-----and kill bugs and pizz off neighbors! Preferablely let it sit overnight, then crank.

Someone asked what the caution was for this precedure, without reading the product, my guess it is as it always has been. That is that you dont want any "chunks" of freed carbon getting trapped between the valve seat (exaust) and head. That will cause a blowtorch effect and literally melt the valve and seat as the combustion gases exit first at the point of the carbon cylinder leak.

Anyway, my 02 as I worry about my 07 expy at 30K and changing the plugs or just waiting until ~100k

 

I wouldn't do it, personally.

 

Tx BB-- the way I procrastinate it wont be a problem!

 

Just changed my plugs out without any problems. I used Kroil for my penetrating fluid and it broke the carbon down nicely.

 

Pidaster, how many miles on your truck?

 

88k
I was patient. I turned all of them 1/8-1/4 turn and put a little Kroil down in there. Let it soak for about 45 minutes then backed them all out a turn or so. After they soaked for another 15-20 minutes I started taking them out. If one made any noise or got kinda tough I turned it back in a 1/4 turn then back out.

 

Well, you guys that got them out on your own are lucky. I have an 04 SC 4X4 Lariat with the 5.4, 79,000 miles. I had been reading all these stories on here and everywhere else. Well I am better than average mechanically, I have put front pads on my truck and just did the rear pads a couple weeks ago. Done a few spark plug changes in other vehicles, no problems. In fact, I just changed them in my wife's Jeep Liberty last week. I thought about doing this myself, but just got a little scared. Plus I didn't have the 9/16 plug socket and would have had to order the Lisle extraction tool. I went ahead and made an Apt. with a local dealer(not the one I bought it at cause their service dept. is known to be pushy and try to sell you on a whole lot of unneeded maint.). Anyway, they said they wanted it the night before so they could let the penetrating oil soak over night. Well, long story short, they had it for two days, they said they had 4 of the plugs that were tighter than anything they had ever seen and they said they were scared they would not even be able to break them loose , so they kept working on them. They finally did get all the plugs out, 6 of the 8 broke, but at least they saved the heads. Also, the service manager said that one of the coils was the wrong coil, said it didn't seal right and was letting moisture in the plug chamber. I bought the truck with 29,000 miles so that must have been wrong from the factory. Final bill $91 for the coil, $192 for the plugs, $743 labor($96/hour). Total bill after tax $1062.83. Makes me sick. It is just something so simple as plugs, I changed my wifes for $12! I guess it's done now and I should be happy I didn't have to have a head job. I don't think I will try to pull these early, I don't think it helps, I am gonna run them at least 80,000. I'm loyal to Ford, and I would rather ride a bike than buy a Government Motors federally owned P.O.S. but I'm not too happy right now.

 

I did mine today. My truck is a 2005 with 80,000 miles.They all came out with very little effort. I ran a cottle of GM top cleaner (#88861802) through it. There's 16oz. in the bottle. I ran it to operating temp and poured 1/3 bottle in with the engine at 2000rpm and shut it off right away. Let it set 2 hours and repeated the same. After 2 more hours I finised pouring the rest of the bottle. I let it set overnight and Cyl. #2 and cyl. #7 were a little tight, so I loosened them 1/8 turn and put some PB blaster around the plug and waited ½ hour. Then they came out without breaking. When putting new ones in Ford says to use anti-seize on the lower part and that's what I did. I bought the Lisle tool and didn't need it.

 

Changed mine with no issues 57K miles. I used 2 bottles of seafoam in gas, ran engine hard with O/D off all week prior to plug change. What I did was run the engine until warmed up between 1/4 and 1/2 on temp gage. Unbolted computer, removed air ducts, removed each COP. Cleaned thouroughly with air hose and shop vac each plug opening then sprayed seafoam deep creep into each plug hole. Then i went back and cracked each plug about an 1/8 turn or so. waited 20 mins then retightend each plug back up before attempting removal. When removing the plugs i periodically worked them back and forth. They all came out in one piece. Replaced with champions 7989's. Truck runs great! The seafoam deep creep says right on the spray can that it powers through carbon deposites fast. Seemed to work good for me. Plugs were definatley warm upon removal.

 

I think there are some engines that have no issues and some that do. My 06 had 39k i think on it and I broke 4 of them. I sprayed motorcraft carb cleaner in there like it says and still..... So I had to order the lisle tool and it worked flawlessly. I used the champion plugs and so far have had no issues........

 

I think your right about that. Changed my 08 with 48k and all came out without even using any carbon cutter. I was prepared with everything but every time I turned one it just came out. They did have carbon on them. Used champion. Didn't want to deal with that again.

 

I had my local mechanic change the plugs on my '05 last week, it had 50,000 on it and all of them came out in one piece. He soaked them with carb cleaner and let them soak for awhile and took his time. He talked to the head tech at the local ford dealer and he says they break every plug they try to pull. I also had them change fluid in T-case, ft diff, and transmission and total bill was $588. I didn't think that was too bad.

 

Ford has a factory video of this procedure on their website. You can't link to it thru iATN. They show the process if the electrode breaks off. Lisle makes a good tool for this if you do enough of them to make it cost effective. You can decarbonize with Sea Foam or Deep Creep.

 

Changed the plugs this weekend on my fathers truck, less miles than but same year 05'. Broke 3 out of 8, Didn't break any on mine with 10K more miles. He had much more carbon build up than I. I am beginning to think it may have alot to do with the type of driving and or the quality of fuel over a long period of time. We used the same method for attempting removal of the plugs. Used the Lisle tool for the broken ones and it worked great. Changed his to Champions also, runs great.

 

wow! it still amazes me how many of us have to fix fords mess up. I had done mine on my 04 fx4 2 years ago and broke 2 of 8 @ 45k. I bought the rotunda tool ford made it was that was available then for like 170.00. I sure my 5.4 in my 08 super duty dont give me fit, it only has 30k on it now. best of luck to all who tackle this job. all it takes is Patience, Pain Pills and Beer!!