The one problem I have heard of consistently is that Ford mechanics use air wrenches to do spark plugs on these motors. It makes it quicker and they are on a clock. The mechanic who worked on the heads of my 5.4 admitted that to me and then I could not get the plugs out when the time came.
The other problem is that without taking the time to make sure that each plug is torqued properly they will get one where the socket binds in the bottom of the hole and the torque is not 14lbs, but 10lbs instead, then 20,000 miles later or sooner the plug blows out.
If you set your plugs to 14lbs torque you will need to check them every 30,000 because when I did it one of mine came loose by 30,000. Setting them up at 30lbs or even 25lbs would cover most of these problems and the miles between checks would not be so often. Its a pig of a job to just check these things.
My loose one had not damaged the threads badly yet so I was able to torque it to 30lbs and it didn't strip when I did so.
Andrew

Thanks Andrew, that information will be very helpful. I have a couple torque wrenches with 3/8 drives, Craftsman being the best. Theres a good motorcycle shop close by so I'll check into the Kawasaki sportbike long plug wrench. By the looks of the cramped space of the van engine housing, every tip will help.
I figured the harness would have to be unplugged, so that's a big plus not having to do the fuel rail also. Considering it took 30 lb-ft to undo the plug then 20 to 25 lb-ft might be a better setting.

Willis

The wiring does not have to be unplugged. There are two bolts on each side of the engine at each end of the intake that hold the wiring loom on a bracket to the intake. Undo these and it will give you enough movement to get the extension on the right angle to be able to get a true reading. Its very hard with swivel elbow socket joints to get a real reading on torque. Be careful you don't trust the torque setting when the angle is not close to straight down on the plug.
With a regular 3/8 drive socket set handle pulling as hard as I can I can usually get about 20-25lbs of torque on most things, but I did my plugs the first time and one of them came loose because I was using the socket handle on the impossible plugs without loosening the wiring loom and I obviously got very little on the plug. Make sure that the plug socket you use does not bottom out over the plug and contact the head, you will get a false torque reading there too.
The nice thing is that when you are finished this horrible job and you know you have done it right, then you will drive and enjoy your V10 with great confidence and it is a great engine.
Don't use never sieze on the plugs. Use Ford plugs and you'll be fine.
Once I removed the whole air cleaner set up and loosened the wiring the job was definately a lot easier the second time.
Make sure you buy some of the lubricant for the end of the boots where they go on to the plug ($1) at Auto Zone or O'Reilly's. If you don't the boot will rip when you go at it again and you will regret it.
If the van has over 100,000 miles on it you might want to consider buying new boots, they are cheap and O'Reilly has the best price I found, you will still need the lubricant.
This job looks a bit overwhelming at first but once you have done it its okay. Makes you wonder if any Ford mechanics have lost their minds working on these puppies, but they don't change the difficult plugs I am told in many cases and thats a worry.
My V10 has 130,000 miles on it and runs perfect, no problems except two coils which O'Reilly has for 50 bucks each life time warranty, better than Ford $80. I have towed a lot with it and these really are the best engines out there for torque and economy in the big block world today. I just wish Ford would put the 3 valve motor in the vans and motor homes, but the pictures shown earlier in this thread are of the three valve motor and they are having trouble getting those plugs out of the engines in one piece.
I am still a firm believer that engineers should be made to work on what they design at least once to see if they say bad words about their own creations.
Andrew.

Another thing, when you get all the coils off 7mm wrench, and its best to take all the coils off first I have found. You will need to blow off any dirt before you remove the coils and then blow out each hole carefully before you remove the plug. they usually stay clean but I have found dirt in a few of mine, you don't want stuff in the cylinder.
Andrew.

Hi Andrew, my thanks again about not unpluging the harness. I recall there are studs at the in front of (#6 Cyl.) and plastic retaining clips to hold the harness in place. If all I have to do is get a little slack for the harness then that'll make the task a lot easier. The less that's disturbed, the better.

Seems I read this in a tech bulletin pertaining to a 3 valve engine. Nice to have it confirmed about the 2 valve heads, had me wondering. Considering that the paste could be cooked to a carbon over a period of time, then start disintegrating, leaving the plug to work loose in its threads. (Just a thought)
Question, when checking torque at 40000 miles, do you remove the plugs for inspection or just set the wrench for 30 lb-ft and listen for the click?

What lengths of 3/8 extensions do you find most useful to do the job?
cheers Willis

at 40,000 I don't pull the plugs. But change them at 80,000. So the second re torque would be a plug replace. No just check them and put the coils back on and off you go.
On my van I used just about every extension, knuckle, length etc. because each plug requires a different approach, especially on the middle cylinders on the van. With the air cleaner off and the wiring loosened up I used quite a long extension because then I could get the torque wrench (ft lbs) up in there and had room to turn it, up away from the motor a bit more than with a short wrench handle.
yea there is big debate about never seize but the plugs are coated and mine did 65,000 the first time and no sign of seizure, and I just replaced the second set and they all behaved like normal plugs going in and out fine.
Andrew.

The guy who started this thread. I have since put alot of miles on my v10 with my tourqe set at 25ft/pds and re-checked them once and everything is great.

The guys truck with the 5.4ltr. The hole I fixed with a Heli set is still running around without any problems and he drives alot everyday for work.

I don't think there should be anymore confusion as to what torque there should be and what style repair to do for a stripped hole.

Use the Heli kit mentioned at the start of my thread to repair any 4.2ltr, 4.6ltr, 5.4ltr, 6.8ltr... No questions asked and dirt cheap.

Torque them all to 25ft/pds and forget about it till time to change plugs again.

Thank-everyone for the intrest in this topic and all the input given, I never thought it would such a diccusion topic.

Hi bro460, yes thanks for the topic and your experience. This discussion is certainly a worthwhile read. I'll certainly be carrying one of those "Save a thread" kits with me, but if disaster strikes me again, and if the oportunity exists to have the Full Torque repair insert, I'll spend the extra $$ and go for that. Based on the information in this thread and from other threads on this forum, I do believe the spark plug blowout can be prevented by maintenance as Andrew suggests and does on his own vehicle.

LOL :-D The plugs were changed at 110,000 and I've put on about 1350 miles since then, and don't plan much activity for this year. They'll probably pull my drivers license for age before I get 160K on the odometer, so supposidly I'm safe from a plug change for awhile yet. However I do believe I'll be checking the S.P. torque more often (certainly before any long trips) as in the case of a motor home used for camping, time may be more of a determining factor than mileage. Thanks again

Cheers Willis

Here's a post from a guy at RV.net that had the blownoutsparkplug dude do his plugs. He makes a few good points here especially about cleaning the carbon before installing the plug.

I just watched one of the guys at blownoutsparkplug.com replace all ten of my plugs.

Not that big a deal. He spent a lot of time carefully removing things and using a compressor to blow out each hole every step of the way. It took him about 2 hours.

The issue is very plain to me now why there is a spark plug issue. The 4 or 5 threads is plenty to hold the plug. The issue is that Ford had a torque spec that was 14 lt. lbs. Lincoln has the same engine, same heads. Their torque spec was 28 ft. lbs. How many Lincolns do you hear having blown out psark plugs???? Not many. I don't care what anybody or any manual says. 14 ft. lbs. is not tight enough. The plugs start to loosen because they were not tight enough in the first place.

My motorhome with 24,000 miles and the full Banks kit was running fine. But, I just wanted to make certain that my spark plugs were good. So, I hired someoen to change them. Good thing I did! One plug on each side was loose! How can you tell for sure? Well, you use a mirror and a flashlight and you look down into the hole. If the plugs was tight, when you remove the plug, you can see a shiny metal ring where the taper of the plugs sits while installed in the head. If the plug was loose, that metal ring is not shiny silver, but is covered in black carbon.

Now, to hear the experts talk about it. If you just plut a new plug back in the hole with the carbon deposits and torque it to 30 ft. lbs., IT WILL STILL LOOSEN BACK UP! Becuase as the engine heats up, the carbon loosens and you now have a false reading on what you thought you torqued the plugs to.

The secret is to use a custom made wire wheel to buff the carbon off the tapered seat that the plug sits in. Then install the plugs dry (no anti seize) and torque them to 30 ft. lbs. NO, they will not strip out if you torque them to 30 ft. lbs. But, as you install the plug, count the number of revolutions that you can hand tighten the plug. It should be at least 4 to 4 1/2 turns. Any less, and the thread stripping process has already begun on your head.

He pulled the dog house and got as many plugs as he could from each side. Sometimes starting under the hood and finish from in the cab. Not that tough a job. But, he had many specialized tools (extensions, sockets, swivels, etc.) that he made it look easy.

The cost was $400 plus $100 travel if I wanted him to come to me (which I did). He did the job in my driveway. I supplied the air compressor, he supplied everything else. The plugs were Motorcraft SP-479. They have a special nickel coating on the threads that is different from the standard black thread plug that came out of there. It is the only plug he will install.

I'm set. I will never have to deal with this again as I will have long since sold the rig before it will need another plug change.

Good luck.

Hi T18skyguy
A lot of good information in your post, and I'll be saving it for future reference.
Yes the repair kit from "Full Torque" has a special brush for cleaning the carbon, however I didn't think about a loose plug that hasn't blown, you're right there will be carbon deposits that have to be cleaned. When mine was repaired I guess that's why they couldn't put the new plugs in until the specialist inspected everything and OK'd it.
I didn't know that, very interesting, at least now I'll feel more confident when I torque the plugs to 30 lb-ft instead of the 14. I'll bet mine are torqued to more than 14 right now. However it's not a great time of year to be working outside in this area at this time of year. :-D so checking torque will have to wait.
Again good information, worth while knowing for future reference. I now suspect that prior to my purchase of the MH, the plugs were changed as required, but #3 being the most difficult to work on was not torqued properly.
Again since your V10 is in a motorhome, I'm wondering if it's a 3 valve engine or a 2 valve. Ah! no matter, just did a search and the AWSF22E spark plug equates to a AGSF22WM as a replacement as the original (AWSF22E) has been discontinued. However recommended is the supressor spark plug Motorcraft SP479
Thanks for posting your information it's appreciated. I'm begining to feel that the V10 might not be a bad engine after all. At least now if a plug blows it will be partly my own fault for not checking

Cheers Willis

If you don't know what the TIME-SERT repair is, you can have a look at it here.
And again you don't remove the head for the repair. :)
http://www.timesert.com/images/spark...nkit5553sm.jpg
++ Ford Spark plug Repair kit ++ www.timesert.com
Cheers
D

If you get on the Motorcraft site looking up plugs, they recommend antiseize for installation of all plugs in aluminum heads.

I know many disagree.

When a fastener is lubricated - Its torque value is less than that of the same dry fastener.































with dry threads

More info on Anti sieze

No Lube torque value 100%
SAE20 oil reduce by 38%
SAE40 oil reduce by 41%
White grease reduce by 45%
Dry moly film reduce by 52%
Graphite and oil reduce by 55%

perhaps 25-30 ft lbs is for dry threads 14 ft lbs is anti siezed threads
the value 14 ft lbs seems close to a 40% reduction in torque value from dry 30 ft lbs.

I sourced this from a handy dandy pocket reference book every one should own.
Pocket Reference - Thomas J Glover
Published by Sequoia Publishing. Littleton Colorado, USA

Good piece of info.

Doug