Well i tried to changed my plugs myself in my 04 f150 5.4 with 82K. I changed the first two with no problem and the next two broke... I live in Mississippi does anyone have them special tools an want to sell em or anyone got any advise on what to do now?? I am bout scared to try an pull the others.

 

You can use the search feature in each forum - Use the "search this forum" only feature.

This only appears right after hitting a specific forum, it doesn't appear when reading threads - Keep that in mind.

Search the "Engine" forum.

Also search the "2004 +" forum.

A ton of info for you here.

Good Luck

 

Jbrew is right, there is a ton of info on this topic and I am sure all of your questions will be answered.

 

Thanks for the help, sorry for the repost... i pulled the rest of my plugs and broke 6, i bought the lisle tool from o'reilly and it worked great on the first 5 broke plugs, still workin on the last one.

 

When pushing the porcelain down on the broke plugs some broke off and fell in.. I tried sucking out the pieces with a shop vac and some hose. I think i got all the pieces out but if i didnt does anyone know if it will cause any problems when i crank it up???? Thanks for the help....

 

Yes, you must get it all out. It will damage a piston or valve if you don't.

 

Aight thanks for the info Bluejay

 

Find a small shop vac head that will fit in the hole (lol), and just start going around until all pieces are out.

 

You broke 6, even doing the soak with carb cleaner as the TSB says to do?

 

Well i sucked all the dirt out from around the coil packs, then when i got them off i soaked the plugs to the nut with PB Blaster. I took my time with the first two going extreemly slow and they came out ok, then i got a little rushed with rain so i went a little faster on the next two and they both broke. After that i turned them all a quarter turn an let sit over night. The next day it started raining and i had to leave to go to work that night so i just rushed it and thats probably why i broke most of them. The broke ends were coming out so easy with the lisle tool that i just didn't really care at that point. I got them all out and replaced now except the very back one on the passenger side broke off and i cant get it out. I am now at work offshore and i am gonna keep looking at these forums and try an finish up the job next week when i get home.

 

Good luck with that last one. I can't stress enough the importance of making sure you removed every little bit of porcelain that might have dropped into the cylinder. If you don't you can look at the pictures in my gallery to see whats gonna happen.
Good luck !

 

Hey JTE,
I did look at your photo album, what year, and engine.
What happened to that cyclinder. Got's to know for curiosity sake.

TJKinCNY

 

Hey tjk,

What happened is the source of some debate, but after consulting with different folks, I think one of the valves probably stuck open due to either damage to the valve/rocker or/and insufficient lubrication. Kinda strange, cause the truck ran fine. This was a 2004 F-150 5.4L 3V with about 90 thousand miles on it. I am a mechanic on the side and regularly maintained it. Think it was just a fluke thing.

Pretty nasty looking damage, huh?

 

I think that a lot of the broken plugs are due to not following the TSB explicitly. Many try to use a carb cleaner and not the Kroil or equivilent solvent. Many do not warm the engine, either do not let the solvent sit long enough or conversely, let it sit so long that it has solidified again. The local dealer has had excellent results and they have one guy doing all these plug jobs. He follows the TSB. Another member, just last week had his plugs changed at this dealer with no problems and the plugs had 133,000 miles on them. I may be wrong, but that seems to be a factor to me.

 

Bluejay, the latest TSB says to use Ford PM-3 carb cleaner if I'm not mistaken. Kroil is old info, and (to the original poster) PB Blaster is not the right stuff.