I dropped the truck off at the dealer for the last service under my factory warranty. She has 37k miles on her now. I had the ashtray start to rattle again, so I wanted to get it replaced. So while it is there I ask the service person his opinion on the plugs. He said I should not wait until 100k. This is the same service advisor I asked about this when the truck was at 20k miles, and he said he had never heard of the plugs breaking. This time he tells me that he has had some trucks towed in when the owners broke the plugs during change out. He also said his service people had a few break as well. I made sure they were going to follow the TSB on the plug change and he assured me that they would. So I was leaving town for a few days anyway, so I let them change the plugs. It cost me more than I think it should but then again they did not break any and I now have a fresh set of plugs. The service advisor said they did not come out very easy, but they did come out in one piece. I asked for the plugs back and honestly they don’t look that bad at all. I will post some pics as soon as I can.

Truck has a total of 37k milkes, 1year and 3months old. Around 25k with the edge and 10k with the edge and k&N intake. No other powertrain mods.

Cost $141.20 parts & $187 labor = $328.20.
Still a little peeved at the price tag for a darn set of spark plugs.

Now I need to get the tranny done because I am a little late on that.

 

i have a stupid question, why is it that the plugs on these trucks are giving people a hard time coming out and breaking? anyone know? and what is the solution to removing them without breaking them? the more i read the more i get worried about my plugs when it comes time. i have 7800 miles on mine now.

 

Do a search, much has been written on the saga. It is the long extention on the plug that separates when you try to back it out.

 

Pictures added in gallery!

 

Glad to hear they all came out ok...

 

Those are some ugly plugs.

Are they really $141.20? Or can they be bought elsewhere cheaper, and brought to the dealer to only pay labor?

 

How can you say that? Those plugs look richer than Bill Gates...

 

Yep, they are a bit black. at least several of them are very black.

 

yes, you can get those plugs for cheaper at some of Ford websites, I saw some as low as $7.84 each (PZT2FF4) FYI: remember when previous truck would pop plugs out by itself, now we have rigs that won't spit out plugs...maybe next gen (08 models) will be somewhat perfect with these plugs

 

Yeah and I was worried about running lean with the K&N and all the lean horror stories.

 

And some people don't understand that running rich is a problem either.

That extra gas will literally wash the oil off the cylinders and rings and cause them to burn up because of lack of lubrication. And just to think if your spark plugs look like that.. your cylinder top, heads and valves probably all look the same too. Not to mention your o2's may be reading off because they may be full of carbon too.

This is why a unit like the EDGE may cause induced problems down the road considering you mentioned you had it for almost 10k miles, correct? I would recommend putting the stock tune in and running it for a week and pull plug #1 and see what it looks like. Then you can rule out the edge and you may have a fuel problem.

But hey it isn't my engine and i am not here to tell you how to abuse it. I am just here to hear to aid you so you don't run into future problems.

 

i had mine done at dealer cost 200 ,were very clean ...not sure if it is gasoline ,amount of miles i drive 3k a month or the troyer xcal. now im at 98k and about ready to do it again ,if I can find the money

 

I seriously doubt that the little extra fuel that the tune supplies is actually going to wash away oil from the cylinder walls. The only thing it may do is run a little rich as seen from the pics of the plugs. Usually, the first thing that shows signs of running rich are the plugs (point of ignition), so the pistons and valves should not look bad at all. I don't think that running the stock tune for a week is going to tell you anything wrt the plugs. Maybe a couple of months to simulate the first set's mileage. Like you, Anthony, I too have some doubts about tuning, but I don't think that it would cause serious problems.

 

Hi.

Anthony does not have doubts about tuning, just doubts about improper or 'open-ended' (as in 'canned') tuning, or adjustments made without proper data to support them. Same doubts as I have.

And running for a week & 'reading' the plugs is more than sufficent time to detect a difference.

Right on Anthony

Happy Thanksgiving, guys!

Cheers
Bubba

 

Okay, I’ll bite. Do these plugs really look that bad and why does everybody assume it is the edge that does this? Does somebody have pictures of plugs out of an engine with 37k miles and no tune so we can compare? I am running the edge on level two and 87-octane fuel. Fuel filter has been changed at 20k miles. The only changes I have made to the edge program are the standard shift points and WOT shift points. I felt like the edge held 1st and 3rd gear too long under normal driving so I lowered them by 2 points each. The edge has been on for around 25k miles and the K&N for 10k or so. I have not put the edge back in on the new plugs yet so if you all can suggest some reliable method of testing I am all ears.