My F-350 didn't start the other day and the fix was to replace the coil and I decided to do a tune-up as well. I've had this truck about two years and that hadn't been done, truck ran great. First issue was a lack of Motorcraft wires at any dealer in the area, special order,.......really for a 460 we have to order wires, that's like a GM dealer not having wires for a 350 and it's BS about the truck being over 10 years old. So I got all the parts, changed most of them out and got down to the last items, the plugs on the pass. side. First one comes out no problem, second plug breaks off at the hex leaving the shell of the plug in the head. Oh WTF!!! Move onto next plug again it happens, fortunately the last plug came out no problem. The two problem plugs came out with the insulator core. The left side plugs had no issues at all so I didn't expect this outcome, however looking at the amount of rust around those two plugs I know why they broke. There is alot to be said about pre-97 trucks as the condition of the parts I took out would make most wonder how it still ran, didn't miss, mileage was ok for a BB. The truck has 170k on it so who knows how long those parts were in it. Next I'll try the heat, penetrating oil, cool down, easy-out method to remove the shells, I really hope this works. This couldn't have happened at a worse time as I've been out of work over a year and I have another vehicle I was working on so I could sell it for the money.......I live Murphy's law.

 

Man, that sucks. I've been lucky so far and never had that happen to me. When you finally do get it back together, use some anti-seize on the threads so it won't happen again.

 

Thats tough dude! I would use the "short piece of rubber fuel line" trick
over the plug to get those two started for sure...with that kind of luck
a cross-thread may be in your future ;-) Good luck.
Jim

 

Sorry to hear that. Definitely use anti-seize with the new ones. I only go maybe a quarter turn past hand tight when installing spark plugs. They always come back out with ease.

 

sorry to hear that.

from others having problems like you had, i learned to look at the area around the plugs, clean and soak with rust buster of some sort, clean again, soak again.

i don't force anything and use heat if i think they will give me a problem coming out.

and use anti seize EVERY time.

 

why motorcraft?

 

Gotta watch that guy....He's a stalker.
I had to get a restraining order...

Hope you get the plugs out!

 

for these vehicles stock motorcraft or hi perf motorcraft are the best wires.

 

better than the high performance 9mm ford racing, msd, taylor etc?

 

my dad could beat........never mind.

buy whatever you want, i do.

 

just asking if they are even higher performance than those brands i listed

 

asked and answered.

 

no motorcraft wires are just stock look at the ohms per foot of msd taylor ect. ect. and the ohms per foot are way less than motorcraft wires and they are probably cheaper than motorcraft wires too i like the taylor silocone wires that you cut to fit they work the best but i have frpp wires on my truck cause i got them for DIRT cheap (like $15 new in box)

 

Thanks for the responses, been soaking since yesterday so today will be the removal process. I'm a retired master tech and never had this happen. I always use anti-sieze on the plugs and some depending on the head I torque because the spec. is so low. The two that broke didn't take any more force than all the rest to break free and then spun out as if they were threaded, but it was the insulator core coming out. I got MSD 8mm wires as the alternative to the Motorcraft, I'll get a set of those from Rock Auto later if I need them, about half the price of the dealership that can't even stock them, the same dealerships that you have to explain what a 97 F-350 is(no it's not a super duty you moron). Gotta go bend some wrench's.

 

good luck getting the broken parts out.