2005 F-150, got all of the original plugs out with no problems. Replaced with Champion 7989's. 40,000 miles on it.

My procedure:

Warm the engine (go until coolant is at normal temp - halfway on the gauge). I know, the new Ford doc specifies not to do this... but... I know that aluminum (cylinder heads) expands faster than steel (spark plugs) - so more hot means less interference. I did two plugs at a time, warming the engine before doing the next two. If the plug took less than 20 lb*ft to turn, I kept going and out it came. The ones that took more than 20 (there were only three - and they each took about 23-24 lb*ft), I squirted a couple little shots of WD-40 into the plug well, waited 15 mintues, and out they came. The WD-40 penetrated fine, I could see it on the electrode shield once the plug came out. This requires either a bending beam torque wrench, or a Snap-on Techwrench (I used the latter) - I wouldn't use a clickwrench for this, it might break the shield when it clicks. The worst plug, was of course, the drivers' side rear - it took two round of WD but it eventually came out without issue. Also, being right handed, that plug was the most difficult to get to. I removed the PCM and its bracket, then the passenger side plugs were all pretty easy to get to.

Some of the Champions had off-center electrodes, so I used some needlenoses and centered them, then gapped to 0.045 +/- 0.003.

Trucks runs just like normal - wahoo, no more plug worries!

 

Good job!

 

ain't it just amazing how well the laws of chemistry and phsysics work

 

77,000 miles here on the original plugs. 04 5.4 Scab. Runs great and gets good mpg's...Why change them so early?

 

The longer you wait, the more likely it is for them to stick and/or break when removing them.

 

4.6 guy here. I see alot that the 5.4 guys have trouble with this. Is a common thing for both motors, Im 22 yrs old and none of my past vehicles have had this problem only 4 vehcles but I did plug changes on all and never broke any plugs off. Just curious if I need to go through a special way to change my plugs when I do it.

 

That is only an issue with the 5.4 3 valve motors.

 

If you have a 2valve the plugs pop out all by themselves

Amazes me that a company as big as ford can't design a head/plug combination for over ten years that actually works.

 

I had 99 Navigator that spit one of its plugs.. fortunately I had ESP warranty.. Ford put a NEW head in and then upgraded all the other plugs for no charge.. I believe the total bill approached $4k

 

i also do these plus with the engine warmed up to temp, i do one side and start it to get er hot again then do the other side. a little kroil and never a problem.