I would definitely use the Shell with Techron. BP pays Ford to have that on there. I have no idea about the BP quality or if they have a good detergent.

 

My thinking is this: I highly doubt Ford is going to recommend a product that would cause damage to the vehicle. There's a couple reasons Ford recommends BP fuel.

1. To help with sparkplug removal. It's supposed to have a cleaner burn to keep the carbon on the ground sleeve to a minimum.

2. Some brands of fuel cause a deposit buildup on the sender in the tank, this will cause the gauge to operate erratically. Something about the BP fuel prevents those deposits from forming.

 

You may very well be correct, but when Ford started putting that sticker on there, they did not even know about the spark plug issue. We were told that the reason they put the label on was because BP paid them enough to pay for the lids.

BP may be as good as the best and have a great detergent, I really do not know. I just know that Techron is good.

 

You should...I just took mine in for service at 67K kms, and I was lucky in that only one broke when being removed, but it still cost me an extra 2 hours of labour to get the one out.

Stupid effing design really, I'm told the "new" plugs are slightly different and the chances of them breaking have been reduced. Regardless, I'll be doing mine within the next 50K kms to be safe.

 

LOL "optical feeler gauge..."

 

The SA at the dealership said it varies from truck to truck but since mine was relatively "new" there shouldn't be any problems with the plugs breaking but he also wasn't promising anything.

 

130,000 miles

 

I think you got your money's worth out of those.

 

I just got mine changed at 100,000. The dealer told me to run a tankfull of 44k beforehand. It worked great all the plugs came out. Total cost $284. Anybody else run 44k once in a while to clean out your heads.

 

good to know

 

My 06 with 78,000mi is in the shop now getting the plugs changed. It has been misfiring for at least 20,000mi. My mechanic said that he would do it for $250 - $275. I said thats better than the $400 - $500 that the dealership wants not including broken plugs. I took it in at 7:00a Sat. morning and he said it should be ready around 3:00p and he called me at 8:00p and said they were all changed except #7and #8 which were moving back and forth at the time. Well, he still has it and should finish sometime Mon. morning. He does not work on Sun. He said that he was soaking them and coming back to it between other jobs trying to be gentle with it. My main question is why are these plugs only lasting 50-60 K miles. I just changed the plugs for the first time in my wifes 03 Envoy with 146,000 mi. and it was running fine. I have never had a problem getting at least 100k out of plugs on any vehicle i have owned. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.

 

i plan on doing my plug swap in the next couple of months. Can anyone recomend any cleaners to help stop plug breakage?

 

Follow the TSB, Okie.

As already mentioned, a can of BG44K in the gas before doing it helps, if you can find the stuff.

 

BP, Shell, Texaco ... etc ... same gas in the big tank farms, what makes them different is the addative added when it's dropped in the tanker truck. BP is as good as the others, and better than Sheetz with no addatives and a couple penny lower price.


It's a non issue with the 4.6 in your '04. Different design, you have a more regular plug type.

 

mines at the dealer ship today getting it done hopefully it will all go well. mine hasn't been misfiring or anything just think i should get it done before something does happen hopefully it all goes well.