The one on the right looks like the other 6 I took out of my 2004 5.4 Expedition. I bought it a couple weeks ago 1500 miles away, and drove it home. 92K on the clock. Runs great, drives great, but I did some PM on it. Obviously, changed the plugs, the PCV harness, and a few other vacuum lines.
My problem is it sometimes needs 15 seconds of cranking (Spins like a turbine! Just no ignition) I have a fuel pressure tester, just have not gotten around to checking that yet (just found it in a dark recess of my garage).
What do you all think of the build up on the one plug on the left?
All the others looked great. I think they may be original, some of them had gaps approaching .090. Just wondering if the injector for that one jug has issues like a bad spray pattern or something.
Still have to change the fuel filter, although I do have one.
Thanks for any input!

 

Heavy white deposits or white spots can be a sign of coolant entering the combustion chamber. You may want to have a hydrocarbon test performed on the coolant system.

 

Well, now you know why it was taking it's time starting lol. Yea, -way to much gap. Nope, not an injector issue. The build up is due to the gaping gap IMO. That 04's a 2 valve, huh (?) Anyway, as such, -choose from ONLY these manufacturers for replacement plugs, -

Motorcraft
Denso
NGK

ANYTHING other than those above and your rolling the dice as far as longevity/reliability.

Besides all that, the plugs don't look half bad. Normally, they're a little on the white side or a little lean looking in good running 5four. Yours are more brown, = not firing as well as they should be(caused from wear/gap). When a plug wears, -gap increases, in case your unaware. Yep, those have some wear, for sure lol.

Wouldn't hurt to do what DYNOTECH mentioned above either.

 

Yeah, I put in a set of Motorcraft. I guess I screwed up, because I did use antiseize. Oh well. I think I got lucky and got the heads with more than three threads.

I was just curious about the one plug that looked different from the other 7.

With the new plugs, I may be getting better mileage, (jury's still out) but the long starting still persists. Sometimes it starts right up, others, it cranks for a while. I will check fuel pressure today, and maybe change the filter.

Considering a motorvac treatment, or pulling all the injectors for a cleaning. Maybe cheap out and throw some techron in there. Dunno. I know nothing about the history of the truck except that it is super clean from Kansas, and has 92K on it.

 

Long starts persist? Huh, well, @ those miles you need a thorough tune up. Uknow, cover all the bases.

First, keep in mind, there's a 4 second cut off, so when starting DO NOT crank over 4 consecutive seconds. Explanation,- unburned fuel and air mixture is pumped by the exhaust stoke into the catalyst, where it washes over the advanced coating on the catalyst honeycomb. The next blast of hot gas then ignites the mixture, driving up the catalyst temperature by as much as 800ºC (about 1500 F) and causing a marked deterioration in the catalyst, so that severe catalyst damage can occur very quickly. It is for this reason that the Fuel rail turns off after only four seconds on starting if the engine has not fired - it prevents unburned fuel being pumped into the exhaust.

Yes, you have the good heads. Anti-seize won't hurt a thing. W/Anti-sieze, torque should be reduced x 30%. That said, I'd still give it at least 20' lbs. What you don't want is to compromise the ceramic seal.

Have you cleaned the MAF sensor? Needs to be done thoroughly, - not just a hose down w/cleaner. You should clean the wire directly and carefully. It's easy to do and no, you won't break it lol. They're pretty tough. I clean just the wire w/lacquer thinner as they can develop a hard shell (cooked on crap) over time. Careful w/lacquer thinner, you don't want to get that on the plastic. Use a Q-tip. Make sure to disconnect the battery before you do just about anything under the hood. That includes changing the air filter.

For now, your on the right track, check the fuel system first. Long starts are often caused by a bad regulator. If the fuel rail over pressurizes (65 lbs +), the injectors shut down. Check pressures as you said.

Once it's running, how does it idle ? What's your warm idle rpms, exactly?

Another maintenance item with those miles is both forward (upstream) O2 Sensors. Replace them w/Bosch or Motorcraft parts. Motorcraft would be the best choice. But Bosch 02's aren't bad either.

Injectors, - I just replace them since they're fairly cheap with eBay. I've always found new ones, but freshly sonic cleaned injectors are pretty reasonable. You may want to do a little investigating first. - Pricing on that eBay site to what it costs getting yours Sonic cleaned in your area. Finding new or freshly cleaned on ebay has been cheap and much more convenient for me in the past. My last set was new, in the box for $65.

The Motor-Vac Service. Not many mention that service. Surprised, you must have really done some homework lol. But yea, I believe it's the BEST service available IMO. It works!

 

How do you do a test like that? Is it a dip strip or something?

Here is a pic of the other side of the plug:

A friend told me today it looked like a head gasket to him, because the other side is so clean. He said it if it looked steam cleaned, that may be it.
BUT: I do not seem to be going through coolant, but I have not been keeping an eye on it either. have not noticed it steaming. I did just drive it 2000 miles. It was a little low.
I will be severely bummed if I had to pop a head off this bad boy! Worse, I suppose I would have to get it milled?

 

Not to thread jack but I just got a used 03 5.4 with 82 on the clock. It runs great and the previous owner spent 3 grand las year in maintenance and a fuel svc. When should I change the plugs ? Any other recommendations?

 

Family guy, pull one and check the gap. If it is much over spec (.054 IIRC) then they have been there a while and should be replaced. As soon as I pulled the first one, I realized I had to get them all because of the big gap.

 

Will do, Thanks!! Good luck with yours!

 

I agree with jbrew on all he has mentioned above and I think he hit the target with the long no start issue. However in regards to the heavy deposits when you see one sparkplug that shows excessive oil, excessive deposits, carbon, is wet, etc. and the other 6 or 7 plugs are relatively normal in terms of normal wear and function then I would suspect something is going on in that one cyl that is not happening in the others. Not always but often enough to be noted. There are many differnet additives added to fuel and that can depend on where you live and the climate from one state to another. These additives can leave different colors of deposits as well and all be normal. I don't like to see heavy white deposits on a sparkplug or inside an exhaust system. To many times it has been because of a small head gasket leak. The coolant will not burn but as your friend said it steams the water off and leaves the rest on the plug. You can get a hydrocarbon test performed at a dealer and some shops or you can rent a kit from some auto parts stores. It may be something else going on but you have to ask why don't you see the same deposits on the other plugs which I assume were all installed at the same time. Good luck.

 

I just changed the plugs in my 2002 F150 5.4 at 119,000 miles. I have a superchips program. All 8 had light tan deposits especially on the back side of the ground electrode. They did not have the black deposites like yours has. I think this indicates too rich fuel or oil.