i had one of my plugs out not long after i had it, before i knew about all this, and its the weirdest plug ive ever seen
at 50K ill have a dealer change plugs when its in for tranny flush and radiator flush-i believe in good mantnance

 

Why trade if you now have new plugs? You're good for another 100k before you have to worry about it again.

 

I'm with you Thump!

 

I'm glad.. Threads like these make me want to gouge my eye ***** out with a dull sewing pin.

 

I'm with you on this. Bottom line IMO is that Ford's engineers took something as simple as sparkplugs (an automotive part that never gave anyone issues up until 2004, regardless of mileage) and royally screwed it up. Think of it this way, when I walked out of the dealership, the sales rep did not say "make sure you absolutely/positively do not go beyond 100K before changing your plugs", it's just recommended.

 

X2, only for me it's a Tinker Toy stick.

 

For every F150 owner that posts on online message boards, there are probably 100 F150 owners that do not post online and are not aware of the problems with removing these plugs. Those people would have no way of knowing that there is a KNOWN ISSUE with removing the plugs on the 2004+ F150. Those people will buy their plugs and start removing the old ones, just like normal. When they break, they probably don't post about it online because that is not what they do. They do not have the benefit of knowing that there is an issue and need to baby the plugs to get them out. So, it seems to me that since the people who frequent this site are more educated about this issue, the likelyhood of one of us snapping plugs is actually lower than that of a person who is not aware of a known issue. Add in the fact that most of the people who KNOW that there is an issue will most likely replace their plugs early because of the issue, and this further decreases the likelyhood that a person who knows about this issue will snap the plugs off in the heads.

 

The plugs don't snap off in the heads, the electrode gets caught up because of carbon deposits, and hangs up while the rest of the plug comes out as it should. There's ways to get the electrode out without pulling the motor as well.

 

Something to think about too, what is going to happen when the majority of 2004 owners start reaching the 100,000 recommended mileage, go to their regular shop and that guy has no idea about the problem? I talked to a successful and well known mechanic last week and he had never heard of the problem. There will be some frustrated Ford owners and some frustrated shop owners.

 

it happens

it doesn't happen

why worry about it until it actually happens...besides, the interval suggested is 100k. so what does changing the plugs before 100k get you? a 50/50 chance or better of a broken plug. so now you're paying money early for no good reason. "just in case". I'm all for changing if, and only if a problem dictates the change.

I'm in the Navy, and we do Preventative Maintenance on all of our stuff. Alot of PMS. They don't always make sense at first, but they generally have a purpose. I've even seen a PM to sharpen a pencil.

But even the Navy doesn't do anything that stupid. To change a plug early because it "might" get stuck, but is having 0 effect on the performance of the engine...dumb IMO

 

The 4.6 has a different head design and does not require the "freak of a plug" that the 5.4 does. The 5.4 plug has a long electrode with a metal shroud around the ceramic. The metal gets stuck in carbon deposits and wont turn out causing the bottom of the plug to break off.

The plugs on these motors go down through the head, into the top on the cylinder. The 4.6 is 2 valve and the 5.4 is 3 valve. I think the 5.4 having the extra valve, limits the depths of the spark plug well. Therefore the plug must be longer the reach the cylinder. The 4.6 takes a more "traditional looking" plug. Below is a pic of the 5.4 plug.


This is just my opinion and I am no mechanic so....Everyone feel free to correct me if this statement is inaccurate.

 

Huh do you mean since 1997 or was it in 96 when they screwed up with plugs blowing out. I don't understand why Ford continues to have these troubles

 

It make since to change them early if you do it before your warranty runs out. Unless I'm reading the tsb wrong. Under warranty, if they break your covered.

 

Very well said. Personally, I'm so tired of seeing threads like this with 4 pages, and counting, of posts worried about something that may/may not happen. It's a sparkplug, it's not a life or death situation, follow the service guidelines, pull and inspect at 50K and replace at 100K. The OP waited until 150,000 to pull the plugs, they should have been inspected 100K back. Will a plug break at 50K, maybe, but if the TSB is followed there should be no problem. Does it suck if a broken plug can't be extracted? Yeah, it sucks but welcome to the world of modular engines people.

 

I'm coming up on 94K and the spark plug change is a big concern. The way I see it is I have two options.

1.) Just run the plugs past 100k, they're perfectly fine and my gas mileage is Better than the day I bought it.

2.) Try to get a dealer to do them who "seems" to have experience with the issue and know up Front what will happen (charges, etc.) "If" a sheild breaks..

Right now I'm leaning towards option one. If it ain't broke, Don't Fix it.