spark plugs!?!?!?

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Ryan betts

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hola, i have a bunch of free time on my hands so i figure ill give a shot at changing my spark plugs.

i have changed plugs and wires on my car once before so i sorta know what im doing. i found the project to change the plugs on here but its for a job 2 trac. is it the same for the job 1 or are there any differences? also, when i put in the new spark plugs how tight to i tighten them? any suggestions/ advice is much appreciated!
 
I did mine on the 2002 ST a few months ago.

They are a pain to do took me 2 hours and lots of scraped knuckles. I do not have petite hands so it made it worse. The rear 2 on the passenger side are torture. The front drivers side is also.

Have plenty of rachet extensions on hand as well as swivels. You will be going into them from all angles. I found it easier to get some by removing the front tires and going in from below. I also coated the plug threads with anti sieze. Take your time, it isn't impossible!

I tightened mine about 18 ft lbs

Oh BTW I used Bosch Fusion Ir Platinums in my replacement over the OEM Motorcraft. I did not see any MPG improvements and the truck seems to not be as quick to the jump.

YES I was warned. (stonemiser) but did not heed!

I used thm on other cars with great results, the 4.0 doesn't seem to like them that much.

Use the Motorcraft & you will be happy!
 
I used Bosch Platinums a couple times on cars I've owned and the two cars developed quite a terrible miss at around 8-10,000 miles, I gave up on them after the second car did it. The electrodes had burned back up into the insulator on all plugs....some worse than others They both were average GM V6 & 4 cylinder cars in good condition and one I put stock plugs back in, I never had a problem again. They may have improved Bosch Platinums or they might not....I just know I'll go with stock from here on out(and no Bosch Platinums. Just my opinion and experiences.



'07 ST:D
 
Our Tracs do seem to like OEM plugs better over-all for some reason. Yes, others do work and work fine, but there are some that have given issues from the moment they were installed.



They do take some time, they are not a walk in the park.

The key is going through the wheel well area in some cases. Removing the tires helps as well.



 
I do recall some one saying that 1 time they could do them in 30 min with basic tools on the ground.... :banana:



I remember it taking him 2 hours, jacking the truck, taking pass tire off and getting filthy !!! :lol:



I will not say who that member here is...... :p



Todd Z
 
It too me just under an hour, but I had a rack and special tools. HUGE advantage.



I would think most would be about 1.5 hrs.
 
PM,



They say 100K.......



my 04 is at 96K on the OEM wires and plugs....



MY 03 got a bad mis at 36K so I had to change them...



Todd Z
 
Officially, they are good for 100,000 miles. And,,, they will last that long.



The issue is, they seem to seize and get stuck and can easily cause damage to the cylinder head threads.



I wouldn't go past 60,000 or so.Swap them out putting anti-seize on the threads and you are good to go to 120,000 miles or so...
 
...and watch out for cracking the plug...somehow I did that, and ended up having to redo the whole job over again :( :( I did mine at 90,xxx miles and they were in there good, so I made sure to apply the antisieze when I reinstalled them.



I had to work with jacking the truck on sandy soil, and it only took me ~2 hrs on my first attempt, so it won't be so bad, though I conceded to take the tires off because my hands weren't getting in there, let alone my socket set. :D



If it was really easy (like the oil filter), would it be fun?



The plugs aren't as bad as the rear shocks. ;)
 
I do recall some one saying that 1 time they could do them in 30 min with basic tools on the ground....
Click to expand...



It was an hour...



I remember it taking him 2 hours, jacking the truck, taking pass tire off and getting filthy !!!
Click to expand...



It was during dyno day AND ran his own vehicle in the dyno while the clock was ticking.





Tom
 
I did it in about an hour in my garage with basic mechanics tools. I didn't jack up the Trac, nor did I remove any tires. I guess I was just being stubborn, and wanted to see if it could be done this way. All I did was turn the front wheels to allow better access to the plugs from the wheel wells. Didn't really bust any knuckles, but did have a few colorful words for the Ford engineers.;)
 
The plugs aren't as bad as the rear shocks.
Click to expand...



I found the rear shock to be relatively simple. I had a set of air shocks installed in a half hour. Yes I did have to drop the spare and become a contortionist, but it was WAY easier than the plugs!:angry:
 
I found the rear shock to be relatively simple.... was WAY easier than the plugs!
Click to expand...



Rearry? They didn't take anywhere near as long as the plugs, but keeping the wrench on and getting them all to the same (approximate) tightness was a pain. Less time, but more frustration. (tho the shocks are fine 18 months later, whereas I cracked a plug on the first install :angry: )



I wouldn't even attempt it with the spare on unless I was desperate, because using the winch is cool and there wouldn't be enough room for me under there to be comfortable ;)



Taking the tires off was fun, though that stupid vacuum ball raining out was not, I kinda missed the memo on that, thankfully it didn't break.
 
Taking the tires off was fun,
Click to expand...



Did you remove the tires for the shock install? If so, why?:huh:



When I installed my Rancho shocks, I just dropped the spare. Didn't remove any tires or jack her up. Installed all four shocks with all wheels on the deck.
 
The spark plugs were a pain, but no more so than some I've had to do over the years. Try a late 70's v8 Chevy Monza or Mustang II. Changing the plugs usually included lifting the engine a few inches!
 
TT, I was meaning that I removed the tires for the plugs.



I didn't take the rear wheels off or elevate her at all, just installing with the ST on the sorry soft soil round here :(



Though I did install the front shocks while I had the tires off already to do the plugs.



Rolling all those tires around gave me some 3rd world fun lol.
 

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