Well the weather here in St. Louis is supposed to be in the 50's this weekend so I thought i'd tackle changing out the plugs. Any advice as to what plugs to use or are the oem one's good enough.Also are there any must have tools to do the job easier(lol). If my signature doesn't work I have a 98 4.6 windsor,2whl drive super cab with door cracks and 109,000 mile on the stock plugs. Thanks in advance.

 

Wow! 109k on the stock motorcraft double platinum plugs. Not too shabby. I'd stick with those. How's your gas milage been lately?

 

I'ts starting to get bad, 13-14 mpg, where i used to get 17-18.
And gas just shot up to 1.57 a gallon.

 

Get whatever plugs you feel good about. The OEM's are fine, I just chose the Bosch +4's because it was different.......

As for pulling out the old and putting in the new, get yourself a shop vac and attach a 1/2-3/4 ID hose to suck out any stuff down those deep holes the plugs go down into. You've probably got spark plug wires, so those should be changed as well. You'll need a plug socket that has a built in u joint on it. Different length extensions. Several individual u joint sockets. That's just the stuff you need to get before you even open the hood...... The process of changing them is an experience that you'll just have to do to figure out. Took me four hours and lots of beer my first time.

There's some older posts that have great detailed instructions on removal. Check them out and you should be fine.

Good Luck!

 

I used the Bosch+4 in my 97 at 50,000mi at 75,000 got a reading of a missfire on #8cyl,when I removed the plug the electrode was gone up into the porcelain insulator
I then replaced with motorcraft 32PP and it is running great at 94,000.

 

it takes a while to change the plugs thats why i havnt done it yet. Ive heard that going with the stock plugs is probley the best way to go.
Also--take a airhose and blow out the plug holes before removing plugs so that the dirt and crud in the slots wont slip dont into the combustion chamber...that wouldnt be good

 

Lou
Are you going to change your plug wires too?
Zap

 

If you dont drink alcohol now,you will after changing your plugs!!

 

Should I replace the plug wires also ? They still seem flexible. The truck runs fine but the mpg and power both seemed to fall off at the same time. Might need to change out the oem fuel filter also(embarrassed look on my face).

 

Hello everyone,

I got the plugs,wires and fuel filter replaced Sunday, Started a 6am and fired her up at 10:15am. Purrs like a kitten now. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected, The hardest part I thought was installing the new plug wire boots into the plug cylinders.I was nervous about not being able to see the plug I was working on and was very afraid of cross threading , but I took my time and all is well. The old plugs and wires had 109K on them and looked pretty good, just a white color on the tips. I went with Motorcraft 432ppm's gapped at 54 and Motorcraft OEM wires. Anything I can expect while the computer re-learns.

Thanks,
Lou