If you are under warranty, and *IF the plugs fail*, your warranty DOES cover it. On the other hand, you REQUEST them changed and they break, YOU FOOT THE BILL.

When you go in with a misfire, the stealership will only replace that one failed plug.

 

So, in other words, they are getting paid twice for the same job. The TSB tells them to claim actual time to Ford. AND, they are charging YOU for the same time they are claiming to FORD.

TRIP TO DISNEY LAND ANYONE?

 

Warranty pays 5.3 for the left side, 5.4 for the right or 6.4 hours for both (head removal that is)....

2hours per plug removed does seem high...and it does state to claim actual time on the bulletin which means "DO NOT PAD the job" HOWEVER those little Ford videos always show how things work in a perfect world, doesn't always go that way. I've never really had to remove them with the tool so I can't give an honest opinion if that's a fair amount of time. Personally I think they are trying to cusion their time if one does go wrong, it will happen.....maybe just a bit too much cusioning...Someone posted not too long ago about getting some stuck plugs out I thought....maybe they could provide some input.

 

It depends on the dealer. Seems most are passing the bill off to the customer if they break during removal even if it is under warranty. However the service manger I spoke to said while the truck is under warranty I would not have to pay a penny more. He said Ford is trying to take care of their customers in hopes of getting repeat business. He reassured me that he would go to bat and get Ford to pay for the extra work if anything did happen. It almost seemed like he has been through this before. I will find out as soon as the Champion plugs I have on order come in. Hopefully there will not be any problems, I'm at 33,500 miles now and have always used quality gas.

My advice would be go into the dealer and ask to speak with service manager. Don't be an asshat, just let him know that you know all about this potential problem and would like to discuss it with him. What ever you do, don't talk to a service writer about it. The first one I spoke to said this problem was for the pre- 2004 trucks. I tried to tell the guy he was wrong but he got all defensive and said " I own one of these truck, I would know if it had a problem". So I that point I just let it go and the next time I went in I just asked to speak with the manager and we ended up having a nice conversation about the issue.

 

Well I guess the answers here lead me to my next Q, does this problem apply to later models ike my '08, or is it more '04 to '06? I know the plug itself is a bit different with a higher cut on the shield, exposing more of the electrode causing it to burn hotter, but does this also fix the problem of shields separating and sticking? And are they now using anti sieze on the plugs? The problem I see is that they can say they fixed the problem, but how many '08s, or even '07s have 100k miles on them and are going for plug changes now? I would say very VERY few, if ANY. So we '07/'08 owners don't really even know and won't for some time...

 

This problem applies to the 5.4 3V. If you have one, your a$$ is in the fire as well.

No, the 07/08 owners will not know if their plugs are going to stick as of yet. BUT, we do know that there is a plug problem and Ford has not redesigned the head, only speced a hotter plug.

Save yourself a little heartache and put a 1 piece plug in NOW! That is the ADVANTAGE the 07/08 owners have. Keep the monkey off your back from the get go.

Use the motorctaft plugs as christmas ornaments!

 

Here is my success story as of yesterday.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=324137

 

What you say makes alot of sense...as an '08 owner, I will not know if the non-problem problem was resolved, even though I have seen several threads where owners say the dealer told them the issue that was not an issue was fixed, so in other words, Ford just changed the plug design in '07 for the hell of it, not to correct a problem they won't own up to. Confusing, isn't it!!! However, as I mentioned, I have read through several threads where supposedly the issue was corrected by using a slightly modified plug which has a higher cut to the shield, allowing a higher temp, which supposedly burns off more carbon, but who really knows. I want to change to a one piece like the Champion plug, but I want more feedback on it first. It is new to the market, and I don't want to put in a new designed product that for all we know is worse than the OEM (I'm sure it's not, but who knows for sure). I'm only at 9k right now, so I have plenty of time before I make the switch, I just want more info.

On a side note, can we as owners purchase the Rotunda tool from a dealer or elsewhere? After watching the tech vid, episode 26, it seems like a relatively painless process, just a little time involved. If I suffer in the future from this broken plug syndrome, I would want to fix it myself with a half a days worth of garage time, rather than pay the dealer out the a$$ to fix it while I sit there sipping the Green Mountain coffee and watching the Tyra Banks show in the customer service waiting area for several hours...no plug intended. Wait, I just made another funny and didn't even realize it..."plug"! HAHAHAHA!!!

Sorry, long day at work...

 

I've worked Dodges, Chevys and Fords. This truck I have now will out do any of the others I've had. We have 12% grades here where I live and just today I had 3/4 ton in the bed and towing an 18 ft trailer loaded. 60 mph up a 2 mile long mountain was no problem at all. The Chevys & Dodges can get me from take off but put some weight on their $ss and I'll smoke'em. It pains me deeply that a truck like this could have this stupid little plug problem. But we don't live in a perfect world by far. As for me I'm gonna keep on Truckin!! Somebodys gonna eventually figure this crap out even if Ford won't.

 

 

Not quite, see my previous post

No design change in the plug, just hotter to address driveability issues and I think the engineers are hoping it will solve the sticking problem but they are not wanting to call it fixed just yet....It wold be a little premature for them to call that one don't you think....imagine what would happen if they did come out and say "it's all fixed" and then a year down the road it starts happening again.....The dealer only knows what Ford tells them and they haven't said anything official. My info came from their technical hotline, that's about as good as it gets at the dealership level.

It's frustrating trust me, as a Tech and an F-150 owner. My plugs are coming out next week (23,000 miles), at least I know they guy doing the job

 

I don't know if this would qualify as a "change", but as you can see from the pics, the shield on the PZT-14F is cut higher than either the 2F or 1F.

 

yup, I got a set right here...the PZT-14F's that is.....the tip is unshrouded more to let the plug run hotter.....not really a design change, just a diffrent heat range.

 

That's the same thing I thought at first... But as I understand the heat ranges of the MC plusgs, they go like this, in order of hottest to coldest:

PZT-2F
PZT-14F
PZT-1F

So if that's the case, then why does only the 14F's have the shield cut higher? The 2F and 1F look exactly the same. So if the theory is that the 14F's shield is cut higher to allow for a hotter running plug, then wouldn't the 2F's shield be cut even higher than the 14F?

I just think there's gotta be more to it, but I don't know what it is...

 

My dealer installed the 1F in my truck.