Ok so maybe a few of you who read the title may already know this hole post. I was trying to do the plugs on my 06 250 SD with the 5.4 and things went south. Now it is only 2 years old but has 119k on it. i got it this summer used and wanted to get the plugs done. So after paying $16 per plug i ran into the same problem alot of people had with the triton engines. i followed the tech advice to the T. I pulled the coils off the plus, let them soak for a while with penatrating fluid then slowly backed them out. first two went fine. when i got to the third it clickd and got easier. hmmmm well i pulled out MOST of the plug. the threaded part came out and left the 3/4 in tip wedged in the hole. I was fearful to start the engine and try and blow it out since it could fall into the piston and well, get worse. I had it towed to the dealer and waiting for the bill.......

Why, if this problem affects so many people and there is no easy way to fix it, has ford done nothing to try and correct it?

also the service guy said they usally replace the boots on the coil as well when they do the plugs. they are also a bit pricy but does anyone have a take on it? i dont mind speding the money if I should but the old ones dont look half bad

 

I thought they changed the plug design to prevent that.

I'd put new boots on as well. I mean, heck, you're in there already.

Have you read any threads in the 04+ F-150 forum about changing out sparkplugs. There are obviously a LOT of 5.4L owners up there.

 

it was the plug that broke right? are the threads in the head are ok?

 

16 bucks isn't too bad for plugs,My work truck is an 06 F350 SC V10,the trucks are leased from ford so they go back to the dealer for service,10 plugs 421.00 plus 538.00 for labor.I'm in the wrong business.

 

There is no way that plugs alone were $42.10 each. I would check again on that. They are about 6 bucks at the dealer each. I bought 10 brand new accel coils and they came with the motorcraft plugs for $224 for my X. I will say that the dealer wanted to charge about 400 something for the install.

 

Got royally screwed on that deal. The 3V V10 and the 3V 5.4l take the same style plug. Got screwed on labor too, the reason I try to avoid dealers and do as much work myself as possible.


There is a TSB out for the plug breaking issue and a Ford removal kit to remove the broken plugs. There is even a video out that shows the procedure to use to remove the broken plugs using the kit.

In late 08' Ford changed the plug design once again on their 3V motors to aid in eliminating the plug breaking issues. 119k miles is too long to have a set of plugs in the head.


Top plug is the new design

 

Never, ever, had a problem with sparkplugs in my truck and doubt I ever will.

 

Very helpful, thanks for the post.

 

Your welcome, glad I could help. Oh yeah, I like you avatar, although it does look familiar.

 

Dude, that is the wierdest plug I have seen. I thought that thjey were just a typical plug design.

 

the plug on the bottom is what was going in and comming out of the truck, the thread part came out fine, but everything deeper than that is stuck in the head, hopefully an easy fix for them. yea I hate sending it to dealer but they clain to have techs there that have done it before. I will be keeping a close eye on them for sure.

 

There is an easy fix to remove the old plug, the Ford service kit I was talking about, thats the kit the dealer will use. A link was posted a while back to the video that showed how to use the kit but I can't find the link.

 

They were the typical design up until the 3V engines came along. The 4.6l, 5.4l and 6.8l 3Vs up until recently used the weird looking plug with the extended ground collar. You can see why they are so expensive and tend to snap off, the long collar seizes fast to the head.

 

I'm curious, how long did you soak the plugs and what did you use?

 

My father owns a repair shop and they just did the plugs on an 04 f150 5.4 with 60,000 miles on it. He and the other mechanic broke 3 and were surprised. It doesn't matter how close you follow the TSB, it is almost inevitable that some will break. they spoke to the service guys at magarino ford frequently and they said one of their guys broke all 8! they had the truck there for a month. when it came down to getting the porcelain out (bottom piece of the plug) they bought some type of glue kit off of one of the tool guys. you let this glue settle on the porclein for about an hour or two and then their is an extractor tool that it comes with that will pull it out. Overall it was a 2 or 3 day job with a lot of headaches. I'm not looking forward to doing mine