Seems to me JBrew put Autolites in his 98 5.4 and they sucked right off the bat. They are FAR from being the same plugs.

 

But they're better than the plugs he has in now with who knows how many miles on them.

 

damnit! lol first I bought the regular autolites and then I took them back for the platinum ones, should I go back and get motorcraft? Help JBrew!

 

believe it or not I bought my truck from a buddy who had it since it was almost new and I called him and he has never had to replace anything other than the battery and alternator on it(of course aside from maintenance like oil changes etc). Get this, it has 165,000 miles on it and I am about to replace the spark plugs for the first time...but since they are a bitch to get to on the 5.4 I just wanted to get the right plugs so I don't have to do it again.

Any tips on the 5.4L plug job before I get started?

 

sounds like a dirty throttle body. same thing happened on my 04 a few weeks back. cleaned it out and it runs like a champ again.

 

Its not that hard to do a 5.4 plug change, just take your time and use the socket extensions/swivels, i didnt use the swivel but could of used another extension. Also i have 265,000 on my truck and have only done routine maint on it plugs/oil/battery......all original alternator/starter etc.....

 

Yea, thats what ive been thinking. What did you use to clean it out? Did you use any special tools like brushes or anything>?

 

yeah I have done much harder jobs, like putting on my 3 inch PA body lift by myself and with no air tools(just hand tools), so I'm not too worried about it. Just don't want to go through the work and not put in the right plugs ya know...I think I'm going to go ahead and remove the TB and clean it out too while I'm at it.

 

Well all the autozones around me are out of the motorcraft plugs and O'reilly on carries the motorcraft fine wire suppressor plugs which don't specify platinum or not but do say they require gapping and as far as I know you aren't suppose to gap platinum plugs because it removes the platinum off them. They do carry the Bosch, champion and NGK platinum plugs, which of these would be the next best choice?

 

No there not - not even close.

 

Hell yes!!

See - I went thru this crap awhile ago, I'm not going to bore yuh with the whole story. I tried the Autolite Double Platinums, these -



Left for work the following day and got a check engine light on the way and it stated running like crap.
I barley made it home after work that day with multiple misfires.

Pulled the plugs after I made it back to the house and found this -



The plugs were heating up(you can see the discoloration) because Honeywell DOES NOT produce an Autolite Plug to Ford spec. Honeywell also produces Motorcraft Plugs. The Motorcraft is designed to Ford specifications.

After writing Honeywell for a refund , explaining the problem in detail. They basically said it was my dumba$$ fault for purchasing the wrong plugs.

When I purchased the plugs , I was told that they were the same as Motorcraft. When I tried to refund them their , they said the could not refund my money because I used them. They told me to write the manufacturer. I got scr^wed!!

I threw my old Motorcraft plugs back in her until I could afford ANOTHER new set. - Motorcraft this time. It ran great with my old set w/60,000 miles on them.

 

i used berryman's b-12 to clean it out. wally world sells it for like $4 or so. search the site and you'll find out how to clean it.

 

NGK.