Ford released a Broadcast Message (5160), recommending
Aerokroil as a penetrating oil for soaking, then working
the plug back and forth as you are removing it. It is not an uncommon problem. Fleet owners with high milage trucks are running into this problem. As posted above the majority are working the plugs. Unscrew a bit then tighten and unscrew some more. Eventually the plugs will come out.

JMC

 

You would think that the ford engineers would come up with an eventual better fix, or at least I would think. I'm just a customer.

 

It takes time to re-invent the toaster so that you don't burn your hands when you pull out the toast. Especially if you were the moron that invented the deffective thing in the first place.

JMC

 

This may be a work around fix to not break plugs left in the heads too long. But! In the absense of a new plug design of some kind why in he** dosen't Ford step up to the plate and change the maintenance change out interval for these plugs from 100K miles to something more realistic like 25K miles. Also start giving the customer a break on the price of the plugs too due to their (Ford's) poor design and sieze-in-the-head problem.

 

Remember the Firestome tire fiasco? I don' think Ford's bean counters are looking to authorize free plug changes. If they changed the plug replacement interval they would have to provide free changes to all the present owners out there. So 3 free plug changes multiplied by the number of affected vehicles = a lot of cash. So far not everybody has this problem so they can still afford to hide thier collective head in the sand.

JMC

 

I understand everything big business is ran by the dreaded bean counters. From health insurance to candy bar makers. Good thing I haven't choked on a snickers bar and have to be hospitalized. Under the rug I'd go. The plug problem hasn't happened to everyone.... Yet. Something has to give, I just hope it isn't us, or the plug siezed-up in my head.

 

I did some more checking and smart fleet owners are changing the plugs every 30,000 miles just to be safe. I suspect that Ford will have to resesign the head to allow the use of a conventional plug.

JMC

 

Veering a little off subject, but still back to what Mike said earlier. How do I know how good the gas is that I am putting into my truck? Do I go to the young pimple faced kid behind the counter and tell him I want a copy of the detergents used? I would really like to know how to find a good gas! I know what gas is and what it contains, but how do I know my local BP or SuperAmerica, or Holiday station has good gas?

 

Thanks to JMC for his additional information.

It all gets back to precisely what I said before - CHANGE the plugs every 30K miles, period. End of story. And if you do short-trip driving, that WILL grossly aggravate this condition, because of the vast increase in carbon deposits, which will also be associated with vastly increase rust accumulation on the extensions because the combustion chamber cannot get hot enough to burn off all the water-based contaminants - short trips are the hardest thing on an engine, short of not changing the oil. If you don't drive your vehicle at least 20 miles every time you start it, then you need to change that oil every 2-3 months, even if you drive it only 300 miles in that 2-3 months. Just so it, your engine will thank you. And if you do short trips, then have a carbon removal treatment done once every year, and again before trying to remove the spark plugs in 3-valve engines - in other words, all the same things I said before i this thread, THAT is what it takes to make this work. All the spark plug removal techniques in the world are not going to cure this problem, though they *might* help a little bit in some hands, depending on how the vehicle is operated, so JMC's info is very good to heed, I would certainly agree.

Nobody with an automotive brain would ever leave spark plugs in for 50K, 80K, 100K miles anyway, but then these days, there seem to be less and less of us who know the "basics" of engine maintenance learned during the era of the musclecar.

Remember everyone - there is NO SUCH THING AS A 100K mile SPARK PLUG - PERIOD!!!

That is PURELY the concoction of some jackass bean counters - in the automaker"s efforts to show the lowest possible cost of ownership - nothing more. Same thing goes for why you do not have grease fittings on your tie rods any more - you don't' really think they no longer need lubrication, do you? Of course they do!! But because the cost of lubricating them adds maybe $20 to the cost of ownership over the first 100K miles, out the window they went.

Automakers (ALL of them, not just Ford, and not just American automakers) are NOT the least bit interested in your vessel lasting as long as possible - otherwise they couldn't sell 20 million vehicles a year in the US alone - get with the program and learn to maintain your vehicles at levels far above and beyond what the automakers recommend, and you will be rewarded with vehicles that last much longer - it's all too American to trade in a perfectly good 30K mile F_150 2 years later. Now that is something that *we* should do because of what we do her at Troyer Performance, but that is really not practical for the "average" working person.

Take a hint from guys like JMC, Neal, etc., who keep their vehicles, maintain them very well, drive the hell out of them, maintain them some more, put the wheels back on, and do it all over again for years and years and years..........

Now, how do you know when you are getting good gas? That has been done to death, so everyone who wants to know anything about fuel quality, learn to use the SEARCH feature here so that you can read any of the literally hundreds upon hundreds of posts I have already put up here over the years about fuel quality.

In short, steer clear of all off-brands and no-names, and Exxon and BP/Amoco as well, as they usually have lower BTU content and thus deliver lower MPG, generally speaking - use the fuel that provides the highest fuel mileage under the same driving conditions, but remember to compare MPG at the same time of year - don't skew your results by testing summer fuels against winter fuels - and winter fuels are in use longer in the year, starting roughly about October to November and lasting until April to May. Out West, Union 76 is usually good, and everywhere else, Citgo, Shell, Texaco and just a few of the fuels that tend to usually do a decent job. And last, remember that a fuel that works well in one area may not work as well in another area - so stay on top of your fuel mileage under the same driving conditions, OK? Good luck on the fuel thing Sarge97!

 

So what gas is the best and won't aggrivate the plug condition? I have heard they are mostly all the same but I am not a bandwagon guy.

 

Try this out.....

"Now, how do you know when you are getting good gas? That has been done to death, so everyone who wants to know anything about fuel quality, learn to use the SEARCH feature here so that you can read any of the literally hundreds upon hundreds of posts I have already put up here over the years about fuel quality."

Not sure what you got in Texas for fuel but here in Southern Cal Union 76 keeps my plugs the cleanest among other good aspects.

 

Ooops, guilty as charged. Fingers type faster than brain. I don't have to learn to use the search feature, just plainly forgot. So please refrain as it was an honest mistake. By thye way, is this how we treat people here with the notion that others' questions aren't worthy of an answer without implying they are impaired mentally? Merry Christmas :santa:

 

I think I may do this when the weather warms up. I should have about 12k on the plugs when that finally happens. Man, this thing just kinda spooks me. Seeing that plug spin inside itself gives me the hebegeebees.

 

Sorry, was not implying that your question was not worthy of an answer or that you were impaired mentally. I just passed along Mike Troyer's answer. Glad your familiar with the search function. You'd be surprised how many don't have a clue. I guess its just natural for one to read along a thread and the first thing they do it ask a question.

What brands of gas do you have in Texas? I have been running Union 76 for almost all the 24K miles I have on my 2004. When I pulled my plugs, without any resistance at all, they were discolored with a slight coating of what appeared to be rust. It was easy to wipe it away with my finger. I usually run with either my 91 octane performance tune or my 91 tow performance tune. So I am putting in 91 octane gas all the time. Can't get any higher octane here.

 

Most areas of Texas, which is of course historically *the* primary oil patch of the U.S., have good quality fuels available as well as cut-rate fuels - again, steer clear of the off-brands & no-names, and the brands I mentioned above. Despite the fact that there is some sharing of *base* fuel stocks, it is NOT true that all fuels are the same everywhere. Specific additive packages are added at the point of distribution that makes all the difference in the world in things like detergency levels and BTU content. In other words, just because a fuel is 93 octane does not make it the same as all other 93 octanes, etc. This is all very basic info that all of our custom tuning customers get in the docs we send out with their tuning.

Union 76 works nicely especially out west in areas where premiums are only 91 octane, also Citgo, Texaco, and in a number of areas, Shell. Chevron is spotty - a few years ago when California first dropped premiums to just 91 octane, it was doing a good job - that is not the case quite so anymore - sometimes it's OK, and sometimes it's just not. It's a matter of just who/where the local station owner is buying his fuel from wholesale.

Again, it's very simple - go by what gives you the highest fuel mileage under the same driving conditions - and make sure you fill up the exact same way - let the pump stop the first time it clicks off, DO NOT "top off" the tank in other words - meaning, once the pump clicks off, that's it, don't try to get more in. You need to have as much accuracy and consistency as possible.

Once you have identified the fuel that generally gives you the best MPG (making your comparisons during the same time of year - for example, you can do that right now), then it's a matter of the quality of the detergent additives - Citgo does well here, as does Shell - Texaco was, up until about 2 years ago, one of my favorites in that area, and is still generally good, but whenever you change your plugs look for signs of pick-ish staining on the ceramic of the spark plugs, indicating octane-raising ingredients that tend to stain - that's not the end of the world, but the fuels that do that the least are generally more desirable.

Also, avoid octane boosters in general - if you get in a real pinch, and I mean an emergency where you have a real problem and have to quell pinging, then use NOS-brand, but only for strictly short-term use - and most of you will have milder tunes that you can load to get out of any such scenario anyway, but that's just a quick FYI tip in general.

Now for those who want to make as much power as possible and want even higher octane tuning than the fuels you can get from your local pumps, you can always have us tune you for say, 100 octane or so, and use Torco's "unleaded Accelerator," which is a concentrated race fuel that works very well for the guys that just have to have every last ounce of power.

The single most important point is to have the cleanest fuels possible, once you have the required BTU content & octane, as *that* is what determines the amount of combustion chamber deposits you build up, and how quickly the fuel filter clogs, etc.

Last - remember that in today's vehicles, anything less than a full 20 mile drive from a cold start is considered a "short" trip, and puts you into the category or requiring at last "sever duty" maintenance levels in terms of how often you change your engine oil, service the automatic transmission, change spark plugs, etc - for you 5.4 3V owners, look at the pics of "jpdadeo's" plugs he removed - they are an excellent example of what happens due to short trips, and a lot of us are in that category. It used to be that a "short" trip in this regard was say, less than 5 miles or so, but not so anymore - today it takes longer for all the lubricants & fluids to get up to high enough temperatures for long enough to burn off as many contaminants as possible.

Good luck!