Hey Mike, you check out my plug pics and video yet? What’s your prognosis?

 

looks like we only got two choices of plugs for the 3-valve (that's the NEW Motorcraft part # too)

AUTOLITE Part # HT1
OE Style; Gap .045; REVOLUTION HT is specifically designed for the Ford Triton 3 valve engine design {PLUGS Platinum}

MOTORCRAFT Part # PZT2FF4
Plug; .044 Gap; F150

 

Just saw the vid of the that plug spinning, do we have a real problem here that ford should address or is the negative impact of this marginal or non existent, I only have 800 miles on my truck, but I am not liking the way that this is looking, Josh

 

No, I do not make "prognosis" of things I don't have in my hands, John, that really is hard to do in many cases - so in many cases I don't do that.

Just FYI - there are THREE (3) different plugs available to be used in these trucks, the original factory F-150 plug, the plug from the 2005 & up 4.6 3V Mustang which is one step colder than the F-150 plug, and the new Autolite plug - all of which will have the same potential if massive carbon deposits are allowed to be accumulated.

Ultimately, I think this issue gets down to the simple issue of you have to accumulate a rather large amount of carbon to have such a problem, and that is easily avoided by using a carbon-removal treatment, and/or pulling the plugs about every 20K-30K miles.

Personally, I'd opt for the carbon-removal treatment every 25K miles and plug replacement every 40K-50K miles, based on what we see so far - and some vehicles look fine well after that. I just feel nobody should *ever* leave ANY spark plug in for more than 50K miles, no matter what the manufacturer or automaker says. Those claims are made for only 1 reason - to try and show the lowest possible cost of ownership, not because that is proper maintenance.

Last - we have pulled plugs in these vehicles with more than 50K miles, and *never* seen the kind of rust accumulation shown on the plugs in these pics - so I wonder if perhaps there is some other contributing factor we may not be aware of, such as perhaps short trips involved, or something else that is introducing abnormally high amounts of moisture into the combustion chambers that are not being properly burnt off.

Remember, it's the CARBON accumulation causing the problem, and that is easily avoided by using the highest quality fuels with the best detergent additives and the occasional carbon removal treatment, which we should all be doing anyway, IMHO.

For now, tha';ts about the best I can tell you, John - I hope that helps, and if you'd like to give me a call to go over this in more detail to discuss the specifics of your scenario, please feel free to do so!

 

What is a carbon removal treatment? Is that a fuel aditive or soemthing?

 

Short trips could very well be the culprit behind the rust. Approximately how long does it take moisture to be properly burnt off the combustion chamber after the vehicle reaches operating temperature? I wonder if the excessive moisture could also be the cause of the three plugs that spin

spinning plug

Would adding sea foam to the fuel help with carbon and moisture?

 

I have a 2002 SuperCrew with a 4.6L triton. I am trying to do some routine maintenance, and WOW!, how informative this site has been. Thanks to all!! But I was wondering if my motor would have the same Spark Plug issue as ya'll are discussing here? Would it be that difficult on my setup. I do know I have the COPS, but am not sure if my motor is a 3-valve or 4-valve? Sorry..Thanks for the advice....

 

Your engine is a two valve engine. It uses a normal spark plug.

JMC

 

HI John )(jpdadeo),

Just FYI, I went back and added some other things to my last response, as I wrote it very quickly and I didn't want the tone to have any potential of offense - sometimes when I get in a hurry, I can be a bit brusk!

OK, so short trips are indeed a factor here - just FYI, in general, we say that you need to drive the vehicle at least 10 miles to have any chance of getting everything up to temp, and that's in the summer time - in winter, I feel that anything less than 15-18 miles should be considered a "short" tip with regard to some components.

Please feel free to give me ac all to go over your driving conditions, and I cna give you a much better idea of some things to do, as well as accumulate some more data from your experiences as well!

 

 

Hi John,

Thanks for calling last night - as always, it was a pleasure to speak with you again!

I look forward to seeing those plugs you are sending as well.

Talk to you soon!

 

What do you think about the plugs I sent? The rust seems to be commonplace but the spinning has only come up a few times from what I can gather, reading the posts of people that have changed them their selves.

 

how do you know if your truck has 4 or 8 thread depth for spark plugs in the head

 

btt

 

btt