I was taking a look at my motor in my Expedition the other day because I would like to replace the plugs in it so I know that they are fresh. It looked to me that I would have to unbolt the fuel rails from the intake manifold and lay them to the side so that I can acsess the coil packs and pull the plugs out. Is this what I have to do or is there a simpilar way to do the job?

Shane

 

It can be done without removing the rail, whether it's easier is debatable.

However you do it, here is my tips for you, having done it twice (on two diff XP's)

1. VERY IMPORTANT: Blow out the dust off the top of the motor and each plug cavity before removing the plugs, good deal of dust in there that you don't want to fall into your motor.

2. Replace all the COP boots while you're at it - available cheap at NAPA (folks here claimed to have discovered that their replaced COP is still good, only boot failed).

3. Optionally, you could measure each coil's resistance - get the EXPEDITION maintenance book for direction and values to look for.

4. You may want to consider to buy one new COP to be installed on #4 and keep the replaced one a spare - once you're in there, you will understand why this is suggested (one guy here quipped that this *itchy one is what separate the boys from the men - along with #8)

5. Give it plenty of time, and do it in a shaded area - sober.

6. Keep a 'claw grab' handy in case you drop something (tool/bolt) - try to avoid this from hapenning by putting your tools/parts in a shallow box or something while working.

7. Protect your paint using old towel/blanket over the paint or you could get the commercially available one

8. You will need various extensions - I used 2-6" 3/8 and 2-3" 1/8, 2-6" 1/4 and 2-3" 1/4 plus 1/4 u-joint extension. A 7 mm open/close combination wrench is also handy

9. Please no offense but gap the plugs properly. The plugs I replaced in my current 99 XP seemed to have been installed off the box when I measured them.

You may want to search previous post for more tips.

And oh yeah, I used Bosch +4 on my first one, and AUTOLITE DBL PLAT on my current XP and both are good, the latter is cheaper and even got a rebate @ Advance Auto, while the former get trashed here a lot for some reason - there is no advantage I can feel with the +4, while DBL PLAT should last longer and you want plugs that would last on this truck - believe me. Of course Autolite gets trashed here as well, so you may want to consider oem plugs which is even more expensive at dealers. Although available commercially, I couldn't find DBL PLAT Motorcraft, which is why I settled for Autolite, and it's not bad at all.

Good luck and have fun

 

if you have a compressor, the compressed air does a good job of getting all the crude out before removing the sparkplugs. This would also be a good time to pull out the injectors (if you remove fuel rail) and replace the O-rings, plop them back on with a touch of vasoline and yer good to go! Be sure to have a good strong back also, took me a couple of days to recoup.

 

Do all I have to do to move the fuel rail out of the way is take the few bolts out on each side and pop the injectors out of the intake? Are the little rubber O-rings a dealer only part or can I go to Advanced Auto and pick a set up for it?

Shane

 

Number 4 and number 8 spark plugs is where the boys become men....