Well dispite all the problems I had with the plug removal and the harsh comments I made here about the ford spark plug design I finally got my truck back and its running great. I took a few pics of what the plugs look like and I was amazed at how clean they were. Starting from left to right the first four are the drivers side; first plug is the one closest to the front of the truck and the fifth one is the one closest to the front of the engine on the passanger side. The third on on the drivers side is the plug that the lesile tool would not remove causing this cheap maintenance to cost me a little over $1100.00. $70.00 in plugs, $12.00 in anitfreeze, $25.00 in oil change, $350.00 in head gasket set, and $650.00 in labor. Not counting the 2 cans of sea foam I ran through two tanks of gas(3.50 a gal. and 36 gallons) before the attempt. So all and all I wish I would have just taken it to the dealer and paid the $650.00 to have them change the plugs. Then all this would have been on them. Oh well all and all the truck has been good and I dont plan on getting rid of it any time soon. Good luck to those who attempt to do it yourself. Be prepared to remove your heads!!!!!! Oh my truck only has 75000 mile on it and its a 2006

 

Kind of a blanket statement to make about the removing the heads. 99% of the people here get them out without removing the heads. Just did mine at 109k. No head removal needed.

 

With the tools available today, there should be no need to remove the head. Unless the plug shield or something large has fallen down into the cylinder and cannot be removed. Dozens of them are done and reported weekly here, with some worst case scenarios and not very often do the heads need to be removed unless there is damage. I vaguely remember your original post with the issue you were having. Either way, sucks to hear that a plug change had to go as far as it did for you.

 

It's to bad that the mechanic you hired to change the plugs originally, wasn't much of a mechanic. I have a 2006 5.4 with 136K on the original plugs. Changed them all myself, only had three break, and the Lisle tool removed them all. Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

 

Sorry for your head aches. From everything I’ve read it is totally across the board from simple to nightmare on where you might end up in this on going issue. I just posted in another topic room that I just had mine done, 5.4 with 91K, no issues, 1 did break but no problems getting it out. I went to a private mechanic not a dealer, I think the total cost was $300, $80 for the plugs and $220ish for the labor. At least your good to go for another 75k.

 

You should've used techron instead of seafoam....you were running kerosene+naptha+rubbing alcohol through your truck's fuel system...glad to see you changed the oil....