Currently the spark plugs where attempted to be changed in my 97 F150 4.6. Upon the removal of the #4 which is under the firewall, a little force was needed to remove it along with some lubricant. Finally when the plug seemed to be coming out we noticed that all of the plug was coming out except for the thread. I have had the truck towed to two different shops and paid over 500 in service and there is no luck with getting this out.
I have been told a couple times that in order to get this out would be to take off the head but I am afraid that once I do that and seal the motor back up I am going to loose the bottom end.
Has anyone ever experienced this problem and if so what was used to repair?? Before this problem this truck was running in excellent condition, it only has 151000 miles on it and has been well maintained. I would hate to pull the head off and only find that I need to purchase another motor, I will try anything at this point in order to save some money. Thanks All.

 

sounds like a good time to do a PI head swap.. The head needs to be removed or you are chancing a lot of metal shavings getting down there.

 

Although I have never had this problem on a 4.6 or 5.4, I have had it a bunch of times on 5.0's with GT40 heads. I can tell you that it takes me almost 1 hour on a bench with some VERY fine tools and working like a surgeon. Since My heads were iron and the head your having the issue with is aluminum, I personally DO NOT think you should have that head worked on!!! Since it has only like 3-4 thread in the head to hold the plug, it's rare to see this happen. It's exactly why ANTISEIZE should be used on plug threads!! Now back to it, There is almost always some material loose when it gets removed. Thats unless by some miracle an easy out actually takes it out of the head which is highly unlikely. The fact that the plug is steel ,the head aluminum and it's seized is not a good combo, thats why I feel the remaining threads will be hurt. If you do put that head back in service, it will most likely blow a plug out. You can however use a timesert once it's out.

I have a 97 myself (It's no where near stock) ,and if your block is a windsor, I would have no issue using it for another 100kmi. You do have a few other options. One being, do a 99-up head swap. Using PI heads is a common performance upgrade on pre-PI motors. You will also need the intake. This will gain you compression and flow yeilding a very noticable amount of power, even more so with a proper tune. The other is changing the entire motor if it makes you feel beter.

Send me a PM or email me, I buy and sell engines. I keep some specific engines around, as well as late model heads.
Maybe I can help?
ksilibovsky@hotmail.com

Lowflyingbird

 

On Friday I was so frustrated with this stupid truck. I called a tow company to come and tow the truck to the third shop, got a call yesterday that the truck is fixed and the head didn't need to come off. Thanks for all of your information, I am so happy. I can put the mustang in the garage now. Yipppeeee Laura

 

Antiseize should be your best friend next time