I bought an RV built on an E450 Ford chassis a year ago, and love the power that V-10 provides. I recently saw a mention in the tech section of one of the RV magazines about the spark-plug spitting problem. I did a google search on the issue and found this forum, which I have been very impressed with. I am now planning to start regular maintenance of the spark plugs, to do my best to avoid the problems.

The RV is a 2001 model, so I think the engine must be a 2000 model, making it a candidate for the plug problems. When I bought it last year, it had only 8,000 miles on it, and I have driven it 10,000 more since then. So mileage wise, it is a very new engine, but it is 6 years old now. Before I take off for a couple 1000 mile trip to the four-corners this fall, I want to check/replace the plugs and be sure they are tight.

My question is about the amount of time and effort it takes to change the plugs. I found the article with the description of the job, and the pictures of the tools and the plugs/boots. He says it took 5 hours to do the work, and I'm not sure if that was in a pickup where the engine is accessible, or in a van chassis like mine, where access through the dog house looks pretty tight. I am pretty handy with tools, and have done a lot of work on my '67 Camaro and '83 Toy pickup, but I have shied away from working on the newer cars/trucks due to the cramped quarters and the electronics necessary.

How much time and effort is involved in this, and is the $500 the blownoutsparkplug.com guy charges reasonable for this job? I live in the San Diego area now, and I am thinking of calling him about the job, but my past experience with spark plug swaps makes $500 seem like a lot of money for the job.

Thanks

 

I'm pretty handy, too, and I started to change the plugs on my '02 V10 E350. I pulled the doghouse, which makes the rear two fairly easy to get to. 45 minutes into taking things off of the engine I didn't have the first plug out. The middle six would be MUCH worse than this one, so I put it back together and returned the new plugs to the store.

I took it to a shop that a friend runs. He changed the plugs and boots (change those while you are in there, they can cause misfire if they get old.) The parts charge was $140, and the labor was $540!!!!!!!! The parts are marked up some, but the labor was worth every penney because I didn't have to do that job!

 

It takes me about an hour and a half to do the plugs in my F-350, and 80% of that time is spent on the back 2! With a doghouse, you should be able to get at the back ones very easily. I'm not sure about how your motorhome is set up, but if you can get to the top of most of the engine, it should be a breeze. The plugs are right there, pretty maids all in a row.

 

$500 seems pretty high to me. What does you local Ford dealer say?

 

According to the many posts I have read about the spark plug problems, the Ford dealer and his 14 ft lbs of torque is one of the reasons the spark plugs blow out of the heads. I actually have not talked to the blownoutsparkplug.com people yet, and I don't know what they would charge for plug replacement. The $500 is to repair a blown out plug and they charge an extra $150 to check the other plugs.

My impression of the dificulty of the job pretty much matches up with the response from Mark. That engine is really jammed in the chassis, and even with the dog house off, only a small portion of the top of the engine is readily accessible. That is what encourages people to ignore the plugs for the recommended 100,000 miles. And that is why they come loose on their own.

 

It took me about 2 1/2 hours to my E350 van. It took some time to get things out of the way but the hole job wasn't that bad. The passenger side was more of a pain becouse of the trans. dipstick and wiring harness ect. The drivers side was a easy. I started with the passenger side that made the job get easier as I went. Removing the dog house makes the last two plugs easy to get to. Its not that bad and if you like working on your own stuff and want the piece of mind the job is done right . Do a search here on spark plug change. There is a very good step by step to change them.

 

If you live in San Deigo, you can probably take the vehicle to Rik, the Blownoutsparkplug guy and it should cost you less. He lives down near there. If you do it yourself, you need a quality swivel head torque wrench (I don't think you could possibly do it without one), magnetic sparkplug socket a few other cool tools that will make your vocabulary less obscene when working on the van. The dealer wanted to charge me around $500 +. Of course you can always use the tools for other jobs. Priced that SnapOn swivel TQ wrench lately? Mag socket=$55

 

I just did my E350 a couple of weeks ago for the third time. If you loosen up the wiring harness brackets you can move it back enough to get more directly into the spark plug holes without removing the fuel rail. I was just retorqueing mine this time so I didn't remove the air box etc. It does take an assortment of extensions and you must clean the area with air first before taking the boots off and then clean the hole again before removing the plug.
I recon most guys with mechanical application could do it. It is not easy, but can be done and save a fortune. Plus if you did it, you will know its done right. I would not trust a Ford mechanic to get them right.
Use more than 14lbs. Its good you are getting ahead of the game here before you have a problem rather than after. I took all the boots off, then did the plugs.
Hope this helps
Andrew.

 

Another thought is that if you only have that small a mileage on the engine I would just check the torque on the plugs and let it go for while. The plugs are fine and I took mine out at 65,000 the first time and there was no sign of seizing at all.
then if you are comfortable doing the retorque you might be emboldened to tackle the plug removal later, or realize its over your head.
Just a thought
Andrew.

 

Thanks for all the responses. I took the RV in to get smogged today at a local shop and talked to the owner about the plug problems. He recommended changing them at about 60,000 miles. He is familiar with the problem and thinks the reason for the plugs coming out on their own has to do with changing them while the heads were hot or warm. He says that he always leaves the vehicle overnight to cool before changing the plugs the next day. I have the RV home from the storage yard and plan to take a look at the access to the plugs while it is here.

I took a look at that Snap On swivel-head 3/8 drive torque wrench - $350, but what a nice tool. If I could only justify it by thinking of something else I might need to torque some day.... Maybe if I could convince my wife that the dishwasher would work much better if I kept the mounting bolts properly tightened....