WD-40 was all that I used at 55,000, besides that basics of being carefull to hold the wrench perpendicular so as not to breack or jam the plugs in th holes. However, I did buy some Aerokroil to use during the next change. Also, I always use quality gasoline and every six months I put two bottles of Techron into the gas tank to keep things clean.

Good luck on your plug change. (it could be worse, my wife's Ford Freestyle has the rear plugs buried under the intake manifold - so now I have to rip off the intake - and get new intake gaskets - just to change the plugs on the rear cylinder bank).

 

That's ludicrous with the plugs on the Freestyle. I'm never heard of this much less seen it. And I thought the 5.4 3v plugs were a challenge. By the way, where do you get the Techron? I've been using Seafoam in my gas right before every oil change and I use only Shell gas. I don't know if the Seafoam is as good as the Techron......

 

You can get Techron fuel additive at most autoparts stores. It is about $10 bucks a bottle.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out. I've always used SeaFoam b/c it's so commonly talked about on here. Don't know much about the Techron additive but I will soon.

 

if you have access to a Costco, they sell Chevron Pro-gard fuel injector cleaner with Techron six-pack [16oz bottles] for $15.59 [$2.60 per 16ozs]. Its safe to use every 1000 miles.

 

The 24v V6 motors have been like that for years....It's really not as bad as it sounds, the intake comes off rather easily, it's only the upper portion that has to be removed. I'd rather do the plug changes on those than the 5.4 3v's any day of the week....at least the plugs come out without "treatment"

 

I can't find the Champion 7989 at my Napa or Schucks yet, but Sparkplugs.com says they have over 100 in stock. Dealer said I should change the OE plugs out every 15k miles so that they are changed before they have the opportunity to sieze and break off. I think i'll put the champion's in before they have an opportunity to do that.

 

What the hell. I've had an order at spark plugs.com for over a week and they said they are on backorder and will ship on the 16th. Did you call them?

Also if you have an Orielys auto parts near by check with them. In my area they did have close to 200 in stock at the warehouse but sold out of them within a couple of days (a dealer bought all of them).

 

Patients grasshopper!

Seems ford is trying to get one step ahead of us. LMAO

The 16th is not that far off. They could have just gotten them in that morning when plugmaster called.

Heck, call your dealer and see if they have them in stock. LMFAO!!!

 

Called them a little bit ago and they are supposed to ship out today with UPS ground I should have them in 4-5 days. Once I get them I will make an appointment to get the truck in next week. I'll keep you guys posted on how they run.

 

Ya, they had just gotten the shipment in the day before I called.

 

any update from anyone who has installed 7989 plugs?

 

Well, I received my Champion 7879 plugs from sparkplugs.com and did the install yesterday. The old Motorcraft PZT 2F plugs with 13,000 miles on them initially turned very hard (and I was a bit worried), but after long squirts of aerokroil and waiting another 15 minutes to pull them, they all came out with no issues. One note, there was definitely a ring of carbon build up near the base of the plug extension, near the threads - but aerokroil disolved this along with the antisieze that I used at the last change.

The new Champions came with a smaller (.40) gap, so I widened them to the recommended .54 and also straigtened the ground strap over the electrode on about half of them (they were slightly off center initially). I also coated the threads and the plug extension (lightly) with anti sieze and squirted quite a bit of dielectric gel in all the plug boots.

The engine started right up, but ran rough and was missing on a few cylinders. I ran it for a few miles to warm up, then ran at WOT from a stop to about 80 MPH and now it is running smooth. The overall impression - the plugs seem to run about the same as the stock Motorcrafts at this point.

 

Keep us posted on how they run!..........

 

do you have any pics of the plugs you removed?