I doubt the gap is that critical. Even if you gapped them at .045, how long do you think it will take to *become* .054 during the service life? I'd say that if you left them alone, you won't have any issues except possibly needing to change them sooner.

 

Just got mine from Rock Auto, maybe this weekend I will install. (champion 7989)

 

Well, its done, I have never changed plugs on a F150 and I just completed the change on my 2005 with 34k miles. I installed champions 7989 and gapped at .045 everything went smooth, I used pb blaster and followed the tsb warmed the engine to room temp.
the right side I removed the engine electrical plug assembly on the firewall to give me more access. Third plug on right side scared me when I was putting the new plug in. Didnt seems to thread, I looked at everything and guess I was just nervous, Threads were perfect, and it finally went in by hand and torqued up. I but electrolitic grease on the boots and yes,,,, I broke no plugs. Now I am going to go buy a lottery ticket.... I will post with feed back on these Champions.... Last time I used them was on British Cars 4 decades ago....Good luck to everyone, and have a great day.

 

Lenore,

congrats on the plug change!! Do you have any pics of your old plugs?

Bubba

 

How did you find using the PB blaster? Is it better then carburetor cleaner like it says in the TSB! Does it break down the carbon build up better? Im planning on doing mine this summer.

 

No, but I did mark them in the champion box as to what cylinders they came out of, I will take pictures tomorrow. By the Way I did remove the plugs on the left side of the engine about 5k ago just to see what they looked like and I did add antiseize at that time only on those four plugs. Funny the plugs on the right side appeared to have no carbon, and the left side was slightly carbon up even with the neverseize. As for the PB blaster it works ok, But I used ACE hardware liquid wrench on the left side and pb on the right side. The ACE hardware stuff seemed to free up faster, however that side also had been removed before.

 

So is Brisk or the Champions the way to go?

 

yes so far, the brisk are a racing plug, not platinum. The champions are double platinum for normal use.

 

by the way I sent in the rebate for the champions also, will see what happens. With the Rock Auto purchase and rebate the plugs will be about $7 and some change....So far they have been working fine.... At least them breaking off is out of my mind...next the injectors problem....

 

Pardon my ignorance concerning this subject as I own a '99 F150 with the two valve 4.6L. No COP's either. Although a plug change on that beast is not for the weak of heart.

But back on topic. I am sure most folks here are familiar with Kroil and Silikroil from Kano Labs. If you plugs are recessed and are installed vertically, would not putting Kroil into the (for lack of a better term) spark spug hole and letting the stuff go to work on the carbon deposits and make removal a breeze? I always keep that stuff on hand and it works better than any other penetrating oil I have used. PB blaster is ok, but the Kroil works wonders. And no I don't work for the Company.

'99 F150 XLT Sport
Extended Cab
4.6L, Auto

 

Look's like I jumped the gun. Should have read the thread before posting. My Bad. I did watch the video from one of the posts describing the "soaking" procedure. It did seem odd to me that the procedure is to "back out" the plug 1/8 to 1/4 before soaking with kroil.

Seems that without any pentrating oil that initial turn is where the trouble would start? Why not apply kroil, wait around 15 minutes, then back out 1/8 to 1/4 and resoak?

I did learn that a warm engine is better that a cold one when removing the plugs. I'm sure this will be the case with my 4.6 aluminum heads also.

glta

 

As you try to back out the plug the carbon builds up a ridge and keeps the extension from coming out of the hole. The reason for backing out the plug is to allow the penetrating oil to reach where the carbon has accumulated. It is not the threads that are seized.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Thanks JMC for explaining. And that makes sence. Which would explain why a one piece plug construction should reslove the issue.

Regards,

_______________________
'99 F150 XLT Extended Cab
4.6L

 

One final question. Loctite makes probably a dozen or more types of anti seize. For different applications, materials, temperatures, etc. Not sure about Permatex.

What would be the best/finest/preferred anti seize to use with the aluminum heads?

regards

 

For plugs I use spark plug anti-seize that you can get at a parts store.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier