Had a low grade misfire over the last week and with mileage nearing 125k I figured it was time for a cop change. Plugs were properly changed last year with motorcrafts. I decided to go the cheap route on cops being I'm considering trading the truck in soon.

Went with Araparts cops off amazon. Everything done proper, no short cuts on the install. Cleaned everything up, blew all the plug wells out, greased the boot ends with the provided grease. After a short drive, I wouldnt say there is a noticeable studder/misfire but there seems to be a hesitation and slight power loss. After a few miles and reaching operating temps I headed home. That's when I noticed the rotten egg smell. I'm pretty sure that is going to be related to what I was sensing. No CEL, but I'm sure it's got a misfire if not a few.

Something I did notice with the araparts cops compared to the motorcrafts that came out are that the springs are recessed back from the boot ends by a good half inch on the araparts. The motorcraft cop springs sit near flush with the boot ends. I figured maybe the motorcraft springs are just worn and hang down further but after some research, I believe they come that way new. When I was installing the araparts I tried to get a feel for how far the boot seats over the plug... it seems like its about a half inch. I guess the question I have is whether it's possible the springs are not quite getting a good seat on the plug. Considering pulling them all and stretching the springs a bit bringing them out a little more??

Otherwise, I guess I run her until I figure out which cylinders are misfiring and send them back. For now, with the short drive I took, I'm certain there is an issue with them. The power loss and smell of raw fuel washing down the cats.

 

How big of a price difference are they comparied to motorcraft? Also, do you have an exact idea as to how long you're going to keep the truck?

Might just be worth it to send those back for a refund and get some motorcraft cops, unless you were getting rid of the truck next week.

 

Send them back. I'm in process of doing exactly that once my Delphi's arrive. Found a sweet deal on ebay.I will send you link if you'd like.

 

Hmm - may be time to stop recommending them - the Araparts owner used to hang out here, haven't seen him post in a long time.

 

Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361498650565?item=361498650565&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
Delphi's locally are almost $500! Motorcraft about $400.

 

UPDATE


Motorcrafts at our dealer here were quoted at over $450
The Araparts cop's were $80 shipped

Funny, I find myself frugal at times. Especially after a $3600 shopping spree for a dirt bike last week.

Im on the look out for a new truck. No telling how long before I find one I want. Could be couple days, could turn into months.

Not quite. I went ahead and pulled them all again and gave the springs a little stretch to bring them out to about a 1/4" recessed. Not sure what did the trick, if it was the spring length or something to do with the removal and reinstall but the truck seems to be running great. Got a whole day of driving in with it and no more hesitation and sluggishness. Most of all, no more smell.

I took my chances with cheap dg508 2v cop's back in the day when global and uneek seemed to be worth it and dont regret it. I love my motorcraft parts and know how important they are but sometimes price overcomes reliability and I'll find myself taking chances with something of lesser quality. Sometimes its a win, other times its a kick in the head followed by a facepalm and a good lesson learned. So I'll keep these around and see how well they do until trade day comes.

 

Don't know if this will help you or not but I installed a set of ENA coils in my sons Escape and they have been trouble free. I paid under 40.00 for a set of six and I see the F-series 5.4 coils are reasonable at the same pricepoint.
I am pretty picky too, and generally replace everything with stock/motorcraft but the OEM price was way high so I chanced it on these.

 

Well that was short lived. Some pretty serious OD bucking today. Worse than before the coil swap. Looks like they're going back.

 

Snag those Delphis while they still have them.

 

The Delphis are good? About to pull the trigger on them, or a set of motorcrafts so i can get back on the road.

 

Delphi is just as good as Motorcraft, they are OE quality.

 

Just wanted to follow up.

I had to run these coils with the low grade misfire until my delphi's came in. A few days later the misfire with the araparts coils got bad enough it was no longer a low grade misfire and finally threw a code after a few days and started really running poorly. cylinder 1 and 8 failed so I swapped them out with my old motorcrafts. There were still hints of low grade misfires and stumbling. Another day or so went by and another CEL for cylinder 3 popped up. Swapped that out with another old motorcraft to keep me on the road. I have since installed the Delphis, going on 3 days now with no issues. Running like it should be. So in just 2 weeks I lost 3 araparts coils. Im sure the rest were soon to follow. They will be shipped back shortly.

I picked the delphis up for $112.49

 

I just bought the delphi's as well, I had the global's off of ebay years ago that were dying out slowly. So far so good, with the delphi's, if any problems occur with the delphi's I'll be sure to report my issues.

 

Anyone ever try the MSD coils? They are cheaper than OEM as well.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ms...rd/model/f-150

5 star rating on that site.


5 star on Amazon too.

 

Early on, MSD and Granitelli coils had a lot of failures. Possibly that has been corrected, but if I were buying, I would go with something else.