Ijust don't have the time and the will power to fight trying to install spark plugs in my 5.4l Navigator. What should I expect to pay a shop to install them. I had one shop quote me $222.00, which seemed totally outrageous. The plugs will only cost $30.00 at the most. That's $192.00 labor. What have some of you others paid to have yours done?

Thanks for any input.

 

I just bit the bullit and did it myself. Took four hours!! Lots of swear words, lots of scratches on the hands, but I did it!! (lots of beer too...... maybe part of the problem!! )

Anyway, that sounds about right. They figure if you don't want to do it, and they know, you know what a PITA it is, then you'll pay whatever they ask.

I would have thought that putting the plugs on top would make them easier to change, but NOOOOOOOO..... They have to pile all this crap on top of them and stuff half the motor under the dashboard! They could have at least put the fuel rails a couple inches higher or at least to the side a bit more!

 

I have to agree with Mitch here, I have had our company mechanic put up a good bit@h the first time he changed the ones in my F150 'company car' second time he still grumbled pretty hard and his third time is coming due.

It is enough for me to NOT want to do it myself when my Expy is due but my personal finances may dictate otherwise.

BTW, what kind of plugs will you be getting? I have Bosch Platinum + in the F150 and like them. I want to go with Denso plugs for my Expy and I know they run about $90 for the set.
From what I understand, the plug wires are pricey as well, if you choose to replace them also.

 

Navi Man,

Did them myself but I checked on labor prices and yours is too high! It should be around $65 to $85 for labor.

No expert of course but, if you take the airfilter tube off, unbolt the fuel rails (then loosen them) from the manifold (two bolts per side), unbolt the bracket holding the powersteering pump resevoir, you can get to the plugs on the drivers side easy. However, the last plug on the passenger side is insane! Just the changing of the plugs took me over an hour and 1/2.
Remember! we have aluminum heads/threads! When you convert the inch pounds to ft pounds on torquing the sparkplugs itis only 7 to 14 ft pounds!


MitchF150,

You may not remember me, but you gave me a lot of advice more than several months back on tires. Just wanted to let you know I finally got some NEW tires! They are Kumho Escta STX 265/60/17s with a 51 psi, V speed rated, directional tread. They have a shorter sidewall higher psi rating and much better tread than my 265/75/16s with 35 psi! These new tires should really reduce body roll in crosswinds and cures. Only $87 per tire (+ shipping for a total cost of $406.12 )at the Tire Rack! This morining I am having them mounted and balanced.

 

Do your 17" tires fit on your 16" wheels or did you buy new wheels with the new tires?

 

That's great. Yeah, I remember you. Had the brand new set of P rated tires from the dealer. Glad you were able to find a size that would work for you. What wheels did you get?

Back to the plugs...... I thought about removing the fuel rails too, but chickened out at the last moment.

I put in the Bosch + 4's for the simple fact they don't need to be gapped!! Plus they have that 'open' electrode design to make a better spark. Well, I don't think they added anything (hp or mpg), but they work fine and I still don't have to worry about the gap!

 

Marv1 and MitchF150,

Just drove first 40 miles on new tires and they are......awesome!!!!!!! I expected a rougher ride since they have a much shorter sidewall, 51 psi, with a directional tread, yet these tires provide a smoother ride than the 35 psi 265/75/16s? Can take 60 mph cures at 80 mph now....easily! Far more steering control as well. Don't know about crosswinds yet.

The wheels? About a month ago on ebay motors, I bought brand new stock F150 17x7.5 oem "buzzsaw' directional rims that had been triple chrome plated for $390 total. They are incredible.

 

Unless you are having a buck in the engine or you have a noticable performance problem. Leave the plugs in there till the 100k

The dealer is probably quoting you 3 hrs labor + parts. Actuaally it's less that what I was quoted before I tackled mine. For those of us that have had the pleasure of getting to these plugs, it pretty much requires the fuel rails loosened and injectors to be pulled. While you are there, you should be replacing the o-rings on the injectors. It's not the easiest job, but after you do that, move the power steering res and hang the heater hoses with some wire, it's mostly just time consuming.

 

Manual says check them around 60,000. When most people change the plugs at that time or sooner they find that their plugs are just fine. Your plug wires will go out before your plugs do.

I changed my plugs and plug wires at 65,000. They plugs were fine, but I changed them since I just installed a.....magnacharger supercharger! ha! After the supercharger install I had a slight hesitation that felt like my transmission was slipping. Has this happen before in another vehicle. It was the plug wires both times.

 

$363 for new plugs and wires. The mechanics computer program listed the job as a 5+ hr.

 

97 F150 4.6L. I found a dealer that operates a seperate all brands service shop. When I called she asked 4, 6, or 8 cylinders and what year it was, I told her and she said it was $30 for labor. I was like all right but when I got the and the mechanic informed her it was different then most V8's she changed the price on me to $80. I should have walked out or held them to their figure. I just couldn't rip somebody that bad, poor mechanics get screwed anyways. It took them about 1 1/2. Next time I'll do it myself.

 

I changed out my plugs about a month ago and believe me for the hassle $222.00 is not too much money. As said earlier, you have to remove the power steering bracket, the driver's side fuel rail, and it is still darn near impossible to get at the back plugs. As for letting them go until 100,000 miles...I wouldn't do that. I changed mine at about 67,000 and several of the plugs were very hard to get out of the heads, were very hard to get loose. Also make sure to use anti-seize compound on the new plugs and di-electric grease on the coil pack plug boots. Which brings up another fun part of plug changes on the 5.4..be very careful when removing the 7mm bolts that hold on the coil packs because if you happen to drop one it will disappear into Never-Neverland inside the engine. My recommendation is that unless you have lots of prior mechanical experience bite the bullet and pay to have it done. I needed help to reassemble my fuel injection system on the driver's side because when I lifted it up I got 2 of the injectors out with the fuel rail. Since I am not at all familiar with fuel injection I called on a mechanic to help me reassemble the darn thing. All in all changing plugs ended up taking about 5-6 hours. BTW, my orginial plugs looked really good for having 67,000 miles on them but now that it is done I am glad I changed them. But if I have to do them again, I will be driving a new King Ranch Super Crew rather then go through the hassle of the plugs.

 

Just got fininshed changing plugs and wires on my 97 F-150 Lariat. Only took 6 hours and some scrapped up hands. I'll my a new truck before I do that again.

 

remember the price will be different for a 5.4 because it doesn't have wires and the coil packs (8) are harder to get off then pulling a boot at the end of a wire (4.6)

just to keep it straight

 

Hey guy's, I have been through all this spark plug changing BS on my 4.6. There is just one thing all of you forget to do, PUT ANTISEIZE ON YOUR SPARK PLUG THREADS, IT WILL SAVE YOUR HEADS (CYLINDER) AND HANDS FOR THE NEXT TIME. Don't forget steel plug, aluminum head.

Enjoy your spark plug changing adventures...........