Here is what I emailed to them:

I recently purchased some of your double platinum spark plugs 103s for my
2000 Ford F150 Lightning. These were replacing the stock motorcraft spark
plugs. I have to say that I am very disapointed in the performance of
these plugs. Acceleration seems "flatter" and at an idle the truck shakes
and feels like it's going to stall. I know you may be thinking that I have
installed them incorrectly and/or did not properly seat my coil packs or
injector plugs. However, I assure you this install was done correctly and I
have talked with other Lightning owners who have report the very same
outcomes. In fact, some of the profesional tunners have told me that they
experienced the same symptoms I am having and that they only ran the plugs
long enough for them to get some new ones and change them out. I know that
supercharged engines are more "touchy" than a normal application but I do
not think you should be recommending these spark plugs for replacements on
the said vehicle.

 

Here is what they responded with:

Thank you for the e-mail regarding the Autolite 103 double platinum spark plugs you installed in your 2000 Ford F150
Lightning supercharged engine. We welcome the opportunity to be of service.

A review of our application data did not identify the Autolite APP103 as a spark plug recommendation for the 2000 Ford
F150 Lightning 5.4L supercharged engine.

The APP103 is listed for all the other 5.4L engine options for the 2000 Ford F150, excluding the Lightning 5.4L
supercharged engine. While Autolite manufactures all spark plugs for Ford within North America, an Autolite aftermarket
equivalent to the Motorcraft original equipment plug number AGSF12FM1 is not offered.

If you require further assistance, our ASE Certified Automotive Technician, Marty Lehman, welcomes the opportunity to
discuss this spark plug application issue with you. Marty has over 30 years experience in the automotive service
profession. As one of our Product Analysts/Application Specialists, Marty would like to learn more about your
application and assist you further. Please contact Marty on our toll free hotline at 1-800-890-2075, menu option # 2,
then select option # 1 from the second menu. Marty is available 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday. If
Marty is unavailable to take your call, please leave a message with the hotline representative and he will return your
call at the earliest opportunity. If you prefer to have Marty call you, please provide us with a daytime telephone
number by return e-mail and he will contact you directly. We suggest that you speak with Marty due to his vast years of
experience and knowledge.

Thank you for choosing Autolite spark plugs.

Cordially,

Scott Jacobs
Catalog/Technical Service Representative
Catalog/Technical Service Department

 

Very interesting since 3 different retail stores had the said plugs in their computer systems as OEM replacements.

Anyone using these may want to think about replacing them soon.

IMHO

Jim

 

Good info.

 

No offense and I'm not trying to sound like an a-hole, but a few things.

I've been here for a long time and don't ever recall seeing anyone recommend Autolite's for our trucks (I may have missed it). It's always been NGK's or Denso's. IMO - I'd say let the tuners be the guinne pigs for stuff like that, and just use what has been proven to work.


When the stores gave you the recommonded Autolite part number, did you ask for spark plugs for a 2000 F-150 w/ 5.4 L engine, or did you bring in the original spark plug for our trucks in to find a replacement? Only reason I ask is because I believe that there are 2 different plugs, one for L's and 1 for regular 5.4L's.

 

You do not sound like an A-hole by any means. That was exactly what I would think in this situation. However, I went to 3 different retail parts stores and they looked up the Motorcraft part # in their systems. Their systems did not return a reference to the plug part # so, they looked up a 2000 Ford F150 Supercharged Lighning with a 5.4L engine. I watched them do so on the computer. At all three places, the same autolite 103's came up as OEM replacements. I have called Marty from autolite and he said that there is a possibility that they have the wrong information in their database and they need to get this resolved right away. I did much searching on the autolite 103s on this forum and others and there are people who are running them in their trucks. Few people, however, there are some who do and they have/had the same symptoms as I did. SAL at psp ran them in his truck for a few days and had the same or similar results that I had. If you go to their website, they do not list them under our trucks but, the retail stores do.

Jim

 

That was gonna be next question, make sure it was the Lightning's.

Anyway, I'm running NGK TR5's and have been perfectly happy with them.


On a side note, I'm running Autolites in my GTI which is seeing from to 21psi (spike) to 15psi (after it settles) from the turbo and the Autolites are handling it great.

 

I ordered some TR6s and TR5s from Advanced Auto Parts this morning. They had them delivered at 1:30PM today. Sorry SAL, I couldn't wait for delivery but, I'm not canceling my order either (extra set just in case). Anyway, I'm going to try the 6s since they were recommended to me by a couple people for my stock truck. I will install them this week. I do not doubt that your autolites work in your GTI because they do recommend those plugs for other applications. I want to claify that I am in no way a plug expert (in fact I'm probably furthest from it). I will install the 5's if the 6s don't smooth out the idle.

Thanks for your replies, Jim