Ok fellas 5 days ago i decided to change my plugs with 44,000 miles you know preventive maintanance. well long story short i broke the shield on the back plug on the drivers side. I have been on a quest since that to fix this without A. buying 200.00 worth of shield remover by rotunda B. taking it to the shop in embarrasment. C. tearing the motor apart. I tried everything except hand grenades in that hole to get that shield out . easyouts, penetrating fluids, revamped long needle nose pliers. my big problem was the porcelin broke of flush with the top of the shield it too was siezed in there. Heres what worked for me !! I got a long round flat punch and drove the ceramic down to the shield bottom against the tang. this gave me appx 5/16 of an inch to tap into i then used a BLUE POINT TAP 3/8 24 TPI and 1/4 inch no.8 metric 6 side socket fashioned on to this tap tightly. then a 1/4x3/8 reducer with a 6" extension on top and tapped that baby down till she bottomed out on the porcelin. Then started the truck running on 7 cylinders till she got to operating temp. shut her down and went to work on the ratchet I used a stubby with about 18" pipe on it and slowly tightened I figured Im gonna break her loose or break the tools doing it. finally it snapped and any body out there who done these plugs before knows that snap im speaking of . I kept turning probably 150 revolutions or so. and periodic spraying of pb spray then i went backwards a bit till it got finger loose. and out she came the only down fall of this was i lost a tiny piece of the tang in the cylinder which i retrieved with a small vac hose the tang is not magnetic. I sure hope this info helps somebody out there this cost me 5 days but i didnt have to pay anybody and lost no time in some shop... I do appreciate all who contributed to my previous thread you guys are the best!! thanks again bob in pa.

 

"this cost me 5 days but i didnt have to pay anybody and lost no time in some shop."

It's good that you got it repaired, but losing 5 days in your garage is not the same as 5 days in a shop?

 

boots...great job! You're to be commended for your determination and resourcefulness...

but why did you draw the line on the hand grenade idea??? (BOOM!!)

Anyhow, glad to hear it worked out...you're good for another 40k

 

Bill 5 days at my house is on my time is a lot diffrent than 80.00 hr at the ford shop. you know what i say.

 

Congratulations! Never give up!

 

Unaware of the spark plug issue, I bought a new F-150 with the 5.4 a month ago. Now that I've read about this problem, I'm a bit concerned. Does anyone make a better replacement spark plug that has the shield attached better? If so, I'd be tempted to change mine before they get stuck. What about taking the stock plugs out and adding high temp anti-seize as a preventative measure? On the other hand, I'm a little scared to touch them at all. By the way, good job on the extraction boots6868.

 

I'm with mbw919, I didn't know about this spark plug problem either. I've had my truck for three weeks and wonder if I should replace the damn things before it's a complete and udder bitch to do! How many people have had this problem? Maybe we need a poll?

 

I have two plug shields stuck/broke on the driver side. Mall of GA ford acted like they've never heard of such a thing, and then quoted me $375 to get them out. Boy do I wish I'd just paid it. In attempting to extract one of them, I followed some advise found here and tapped it with a 9mmx1mm tap (Irwin brand). I used a 1 foot-1/4" rachet extension to get down to the shield with the tap and the extension/tap connection had some play. So I was worried about the extension slipping on the tap. I was turning in the tap with a little 1/4 inch wrench with little resistance and what felt to be some slipping, but the tap seemed to be into it somewhat. I decided to back it off a bit to see what was happening (figuring I would err on the side of caution),and the tap sheared of inside the shield, probably about a 1/4" of it. It looks like the head has to come off now. Any ideas anybody? I assume that there's no way to drill and extract the tap tip. The only thing left to grab are the 4 TINY little holes around the tap

 

I'm not a mechanic but my advice would be to let the "Ford Service Deparment" change the plugs. To hold Ford accountable for their lovely invention, we customers should utilize Ford's represented best to "Service" our plugs. I don't plan to do it myself and I will wait until the time Ford recommended to change them out. I WIll NOT sign any waivers of liability should the Service Department seek my signature. If they refuse the do this "RECOMMENDED MAINTANANCE", it's going to get really interesting....... How will it look that Ford makes a motor that can't be serviced by a Ford Tech without signing a waiver b/c they know somethings going to break. Like I've said, the storm is coming. I just hope others who now can learn for themselves before buying know what they're getting into before buying the 5.4 3v engine. It's not exciting investing 30k for a truck that I'll have to worry about for the next few years whether the darn plugs will come out or worse having a bill for several thousand dollars stuffed in my face b/c of poor design....

 

I'd also be interested to know if 3rd party service contracts will pay for head repair if the tech can't get the spark plugs out.

 

I'm wondering, has anybody considered if it's even possible to do a homemade plug alteration ie. small weld connecting the shield to the nut? The only problem I see is that the tolerances are too small b/n the plug and the head itself. If the problem is that the plug shield can't support the pressure applied to it b/c the crimped area is too weak, wouldn't just adding some type of support b/n the shield and nut allow for unbroken removal? Is it possible or am I smoking crack????

 

[QUOTE=tomclem]I'm wondering, has anybody considered if it's even possible to do a homemade plug alteration ie. small weld connecting the shield to the nut? QUOTE]

The thought crossed my mind because I have access to laser welding equipment. But.......I'm leary of even touching the darn plugs and the truck has 98,000 miles to go before the scheduled plug change. I'll most likely wait, do nothing, and hope Ford has a better idea before mine are due to be changed. It might influence how long I decide to keep the truck.

 

Be sure you use Kroil or Aero Kroil. It eats the carbon at the juncture of the head & the electrode shield. PB & other cleaners will not touch this stuff.
Follow the Ford TSB EXACTLY!
New owners.... supposedly Nickel anti-sieze was applied to the plug electrode shield prior to assembly(FWIW).

 

I dont think anyone in this forum will argue the fact that it is absolutely a must have when it comes to quality tools. I would not use IRWIN tools on my 32,000.00 truck maybe its just me my box is snap-on mac and blue point... respectively. to the question of the stuck/broke off tap try a pair of 14" SNAP-ON needle nose and see if that dont get it. other than that your gonna have to find a twist drill bit that can drill out your irwin tap!! maybe diamond bit... just an idea. Another thing about the welding im no welder by any stretch FYI the plug shield is non magnetic and the plug threads are magnetic two diffrent materials?? I was thinking the plug shield could be tungsten or something.. good luck

 

Every time I read post' like this i'm glad I have my under powered POS 4.2V6 2007 F150 with convential plugs! At least I can sleep at night and not worry about my plugs breaking off at service time or whether or not to sell it when plug service comes up!

Yeah,yeah,i've be ridiculed to death about why I bought a F150 with a V6...lets see who laughs last at plug service time!