After many weeks of stressing and a lot of help from here I finally changed out my sparkplugs. I bought this truck a year ago with 54k miles. It is an '04 FX4. The guy took really good care of it but I didn't even know to ask if the plugs had ever been changed. They hadn't, so after reading how much of a nightmare it can be I had resolved to paying a garage to do it. They quoted me $350 plus $85 for any that broke. Well that was just too much for me so I grew a pair and decided to tackle it myself. I am pretty mechanically inclined but this was still quite a job. It ended up taking me 8 hours to complete.

I began by having the fuel system thoroughly serviced a couple of weeks ago. That included the intake man., fuel rails, throttle body, and hooking the whole system up to a machine to flush it out. Even if this didn't help with the plugs I could actually tell a difference so it was worth it. Then I acquired all of the necessarry items: 1. spark plugs, the new Motorcraft ones SP-507 which I found online by Google for $9 a piece (cheap). 2. Nickel anti-sieze which I now have enough to do a thousand more changes. 3. Aero Kroil (I know the TSB asks for Carb Cleaner but this worked as well. 4. Spark plug socket (the long one specifically for the 5.4 which I found on Amazon. 5. The extractor tool ($80 from Napa and worth it's weight in gold) 6. Other misc. items.

I began by removing the battery and CPUto make things easier:


Then I removed all eight COP's:
[IMG][/IMG]

I followed the TSB for removal to the letter except for using Aero Kroil not the Carb Cleaner:

[IMG][/IMG]

I ended up having 3 plugs break on me and I was certainly glad I had the extractor on hand to finish the job:
[IMG][/IMG]

I had all three types of breaks along the way and by far the least stressfull one is when all of the plug comes out except the metal basket. Having to push the porcelain down was very hard on the nerves but the tool performed very well:
[IMG][/IMG]

I ended up getting all spark plugs out safely. Just like everyone says if they don't make noise coming out get prepared to use the extractor. The three that broke didn't make a peep and all the others screemed like banshees coming out:
[IMG][/IMG]

All in all I am very pleased to have this behind me so I can focus on doing some cosmetic improvements to my baby. Just look at how happy she is now:
[IMG][/IMG]

So just follow the TSB, e.g. lossen, tighten, loosen until they come out. Most of all don't try and force them. I think I got overconfident when I had a few successful ones and loosened a little more when I should have tightned some and broke it. Sorry for such a long post, I am just in a good mood now. Laf. I am willing to help anyone that needs to do this 'cause like I said I couldn't have done it without the help of this forum.

Thanks to all for the help.

p.s. I vacuumed out the cylinders with my shop vac and small attachment to make sure everything was out and I meant to say my truck has 64k miles on it.

 

Congratulations. That is a nice accomplishment.

 

Thanks, it feels good getting that done.

 

I wanna get this done but id rather have someone that knows how to do this with me as well so next time ill be able to do it with more confidence.

 

What TSB number did you use?

 

Nice.

 

congrats..
pics are worth a thousand words!
im sure this will help someone (prob. me) in the future.
thanks!

 

TSB 08-7-6, this is the latest I could find. I had already bought the Aero Kroil when I found this one but the Aero Kroil worked as good as I can imagine the Motorcraft carb cleaner could.

If you have a basic set of mechanic's tools you could easily do this. Well, the tools and a lot of time and patience. I went into it expecting at least 4 to break so I was relieved that only 3 broke. (sad huh?) The only obscure tools were actually for the extractor; I had to borrow a 1/2 in. drive 15/16 deep socket I think? Sorry, I've already started dumping my info.

Also, I used a moving blanket on top of the engine to lay on. It was very uncomfotable until I found that. Someone on here suggested old pillows. Good luck to all who go for it. It is very satisfying to have done it myself. Plus, I saved a lot of $$.

 

Congrats......

 

Kroil is a penetrating oil. The reason they changed to carb cleaner is it seems to do a better job of softening the carbon deposits on the sleeve.

 

I took mine out with an electric battery impact wrench - worked well. Broke 2. I think if they are going to break, they will break. I think keeping engine warm is a good idea too.

 

Cutting to the chase... I decided to do the job and pulled 7 of 8 out with no problem.. The one plug that gave me a problem was the #4, all the way back passenger side, go figure.. lol

Anyway, the problem here is only the threaded nut came out so the rest of the plug is still in, unbroken, I think. To use the lisle tool 65600, which I receive Tuesday, what did you do about the porcelain? To use the tool it must be broke off flush with the shield/case right? But my plug is still in one piece.

I see you have a plug in one piece with the threaded nut off. How did you use the tool to remove that plug??

All of my worries are down to this question??

Thanks!

 

Stupid question:

Why is this plug glowing red? Is it super heated? Is this a step in the TSB? (Obviously I have not read it yet...)

 

It's not glowing red, it's the Aero Kroil penetrating oil that was used, it's red in color.

And ..by the way.. NO question is a stupid one...we are all here to learn and offer advise

 

I was really lucky. I finally literally decided to pull the plug on changing mine last week on my 04' with 60k. Dealerships here quoted $350 and $450 just way too much. My cousin and I did it. Warmed the motor and was prepared for the worst. We started gong and literally took only 40 minutes to change all plugs. Not a squeak or break from any of them. The back ones were a pain to get to but came out fine. Those were the ones I did not want to break.

We were prepared to soak them and all but they were all turing real easy and came right out we did not bother. Then I nickel anti seized the new ones and popped them in.

The ones that came out were well worn but not carboned up at all. Dry and clean. Not sure why. Maybe because I had it Custom tuned since day one and it ran cleaner? Not sure but it took more time getting the coils off than the plugs.