Back in May I bought a '02 5.4 that had Bosch plugs in for about a week and lost major power. The truck was taken to Ford and they said it was a burnt valve so the guy I got the motor from swapped it out. Tonight I pulled the driver side head [bank 2] and found the #5 valve not burnt but broke off with no apparent damage to the head or the cylinder, only a scratch on the top of the piston. Notice the week old spark plug:

 

youch . is that what they do to the 5.4's and 4.6's or all ford motors?

 

owchies. I know from firsthand experience the 4.2Ls absolutely hate anything but OEM plugs.

 

Yea, the V8's they do for sure - They heat up like Autolites do, but Autolites don't fall apart, they just turn all different colors and make her run like a slug.

Neither Autolite or Bosch are spec-ed for these motors - People buy them anyway

 

im runnin the autolite iridium i like em. they run pretty good!


sux man damn those bosch plugs are junk!

 

Yup, That's why 3rd party Auto Suppliers push them onto the consumer. You have those few people who go against the grain and support non- spec parts that you can run on. I've heard of people getting as much as 30,000 miles out of Autolites before having problems. Hey , that's great! I guess; But how many miles of that 30k was your vehicle actually performing as good as it could ? That's right , you also post over 20 MPG in your ride most of the time, so it can't be hitting on all 8 anyway IMO.

Pushing a bad product onto people isn't cool. These forums along with others have reported countless problems with Autolite Plugs. I wrote Honeywell personally a few years back when I tried them - Complaining that I got only 40 miles out of my Double Platinums.

We manufacture Motorcraft plugs for your application - refer to your owners manual.


So basically, that's saying it was my dumb a$$ fault for buying the Autolite when Honeywell , who makes both Autolite and Motorcraft plugs have even quoted themselves - "Motorcraft plugs are designed per Ford spec - Autolite plugs are NOT".

What can you do about 3rd parties pushing bad products . Not a damn thing - It's legal as long as it doesn't create a safety concern for you and others around you.

Here's a New Autolite after only 40 miles. Heated up and has started to turn colors. This plug just stopped firing period. -

 

DANG!!!!!!!!! man i sure am glad i switched my bosch out and put motorcraft back in!!!

 

Just about every vehicle that comes to me with a strong engine miss has Bosch platnum plugs in it. The specific plug that has the most issues are the single platnum with the extreemly fine wire thin element in the ceramic. The element simply burns out and leaves a hole in the ceramic. It's hard to see, but I have taken a strand of wire and inserted it into where the platnum should be to show a customer.

Luckally I have not had anyone come in with the engine damage you have, Sorry to see that it happened to you. I strongly recomend Motorcraft platnum plugs, but have been seeing lately that a newer design plug has a smaller electrode. It's not a wire thin one, but I liked the big solid origional platnum. I have never seen one fail, other than from very Hi-Mi. ON THAT NOTE, Please to all of you reading this. Although the plug might last an easy 100kmi. You really should not leave it in there for that long. In our motors they can either blow out of seize in, It's just a bad idea!!

Lowflyingbird

 

HI!... Theres nothing wrong with AUTOLITE plugs. Actually I found them to be the best plug to run in my F-150. I ran the AR-93's and had no problems with them at all. The AUTOLITE racing plugs (AR) are copper core and have to be changed more often. About once a season (spring, summer, fall..etc...) My truck hated the Denso's, the stock plugs and NGK's........

 

I will agree with Neal on the Autolite copper racing ones. I have had them in my truck for about 8,000 miles now and never had an issue, mileage is good, around 20highway. I am going to change them out with a brand new set of motorcraft platinum finewires though in about 100miles for my next oil change.

 

My motorcrafts have over 120k on them because my lazy *** hasn't gotten around to swappin' em.

 

So the spark plugs are really hot and cause pre-ignition? I don't see any carbon buildup in that picture.

 

Bet you would change your mind real quick if you used the recommended Autolite plugs for a 98 - I know you would.

Bad News ! I had to put my old set of Motorcraft plugs back in because everything was closed after work - Then install a set of new Motorcrafts a few days later. 3 plug changes in the same week and theres nothing wrong with Autolites!! Yea , I'm making it up Neal.

You and Faster can have them - No thanks.

 

i use autolite plugs in every vehicle that comes in my dads shop. noone has ever had a problem yet. i ran a hotter autolite plug in my old motor because it was using more oil than gas and i just needed to get around during school. when i rebuilt my motor, i pulled the plugs to see if there was any damage occuring inside the cylinders and what kind of wear they had and they looked like new with 11,000 miles on them and the original motor had 260,000 miles on it when i replaced it. i like autolite and i have only seen it once where they gave someone a problem and it was on this website. but bosch, no dought is the worst plug to use. but pretty much any vehicle with an after market plug is gonna run differently in some way.

 

Good for you - Happy for yuh. You can install the wrong plugs in 98 -03 modular and get away with it- u should be proud.

It prolly ran like sh^t and they just took it to someone else. Hell man , there's a big sticker under the hood that tells you what plugs to use and it's not Autolite.

I was told Autolite and Motorcraft were the same plugs, that's why I tried them way back when. If the freak-in galleries worked , I would show you a few pics.

Have at it; Cuddle up w/Autolite's - I'll keep using the plugs Ford specified for the engine. I have never had a problem with those. Consider yourself a hell of allot smarter than Ford engineers and Honeywell.

I can't believe the stupid chit I hearing. Specially the - "Nothing wrong with Auto-lites" comment. Yea , I wish.