Took my '05 FX4 in for spark plug change today and was in great fear of the consequences after reading all the horror stories. Printed out the latest service bulletin (TSB 08-7-6) for my mechanic to follow and I am happy to say all 8 plugs came out without incident. Bottom line, all done and out the door for just under $230, $142 of which was just for the Motorcraft plugs.

A big worry off my shoulders and I'm a happy camper now ..... maybe I should be buying lottery tickets today as well .

 

I always thought about changing my own plugs at one time, until I heard those stories. And other people saying that a ford mechanic saying that it costs up to 500 dollars to replace them, and 1000 dollars if they break. Hearing figures like that almost makes me want to change them myself, but fear of having them break, keeps me at the procrastination state.

 

I changed mine out at 20k and every one of them screeched, popped, and grated like they would break but all came out in one piece. Did my neighbor's at the same time and broke one of his which he extracted the next day. After all that I sure as heck would not put the same type back in there only to worry about them coming apart on the next plug change. We decided to go with the Champion 7989 one-piece plugs and they are working great so far. Some people say bad things about Champion plugs but at least they won't come apart and stick in the head.

 

Great news!

 

That's great! How many miles on yours and did you use a gas with a detergent?

 

Glad to hear it went well! I'm doing mine in another 30,000 miles, or two years worth of driving! Hope they get more practice time in by then!....

 

Nice to hear. Did you soak them with penetrating oil before fully removing them?

WE NEED DETAILS!

 

Just over 50000 km. Actually, all the plugs looked good with very little carbon on them (at least to my untrained eye) but you could see where they were starting to build up. I generally don't stick with any one brand of gas, other than 87 octane.

The new TSB reccommends using carburator cleaner, not penetrating oil, to soak after starting the plugs 1/8 to 1/4 turn. They say to soak for a minimum of 15 minutes tho I think my guy probably let them set for 1/2 an hour or more. It also says expect around 33 lb-ft of torque to remove the plugs.

 

Damn -- that seems cheap for a plug job on this truck -- did you have the work done at a Ford dealership?

 

I need to hear more from people with real milage on their truck before I put my worries aside. But congratulations!

 

Nope, local Canadian Tire. Turns out the owner has a F150 as well and he's been thru it. Glad they experimented on his truck....it didn't go as well as mine. He had less mileage than mine and ended up breaking 3 off, so they learned a bunch about it I guess