PB Blaster is epic for this purpose.
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F150 Triton 3 valve motor. R u kidding me??
- Thread starter Gibson90
- Start date
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PB Blaster is epic for this purpose.
SaintsNSinners
Shooter
Just use some locitite and youll never have to worry about removing them
I know there are issues with these heads and if something works once for an individual it becomes the tried and true method. I was not knocking you at all, just the hearsay mill.
If you pull the threads up with the plug that hole had an issue beyond just pulling out the spark plug. If the threads are stretched when the plug is installed it will lead to this issue.
Agree that these are extremely difficult in most cases. Champion makes a 1 piece shell as a replacement but obviously it's not OE. And, of course, it's a patented design.
TSB and Allied (Motorcraft/Autolite) say spray carb clean in the night before and let soak, crack the plug loose and resoak. I don't feel it works because they still break. Personally I've had better luck with SeaFoam through a vacuum port a few times before the plug change. And of course anti seize on the shell when new ones go back in
TSB and Allied (Motorcraft/Autolite) say spray carb clean in the night before and let soak, crack the plug loose and resoak. I don't feel it works because they still break. Personally I've had better luck with SeaFoam through a vacuum port a few times before the plug change. And of course anti seize on the shell when new ones go back in
Here's my experience with these plugs. I have an 05 and at 34K miles I took it to the dealer to have the plugs changed out to the 1 piece champions. The dealer that I took it to said that if any of the plugs break while I was under warranty that I wouldn't have to pay extra so I thought why not. The dealer ended up breaking 3 of them but I didn't have to pay a penny extra. So after 10k miles or less on the champions the engine developed a nasty misfire. Turns out the misfire was do to the champion plugs, switch plugs and all has been well since. Now I'm at 102k miles and probably should be getting ready to change the plugs that have close to 60k miles on them.
There are several methods that people have tried but one that has seen a lot of success on F150online is using a small impact gun on them. There are some dealers much better than others that higher success rates or at least have gotten good at the broken plug removal process and don't charge a ton of cash. I need to start some research and find one around Indy that will do it at a reasonable price. I hate the fact that I'm going to have to pay for what should be a simple plug change but I feel that I should let someone else do it that has more experience. I do find it ironic that on the previous engine generation that there was an issue with plugs blowing out of the engine and then Ford goes to the opposite spectrum and cannot get the plugs out. I think Ford needs to realize that it's only a freaking spark plug and quit trying to reinvent the wheel on them.
There are several methods that people have tried but one that has seen a lot of success on F150online is using a small impact gun on them. There are some dealers much better than others that higher success rates or at least have gotten good at the broken plug removal process and don't charge a ton of cash. I need to start some research and find one around Indy that will do it at a reasonable price. I hate the fact that I'm going to have to pay for what should be a simple plug change but I feel that I should let someone else do it that has more experience. I do find it ironic that on the previous engine generation that there was an issue with plugs blowing out of the engine and then Ford goes to the opposite spectrum and cannot get the plugs out. I think Ford needs to realize that it's only a freaking spark plug and quit trying to reinvent the wheel on them.
I do some mech work on the side and the latest gen of Ford trucks don't impress me on some of the details, I refuse to open the hood on the Triton engine, there are more maintenance nightmares than just the plugs, and they also used some bad combinations of metal for their brakes, the Last let of rotors that had to come off a ford truck came off in pieces where the rotor had seized to the hub, (Hey toyota guys don't snicker, yours do it too)
I'm sure anyone who does mechanic work can attest that at sometime we hate them all, But it does seem like they could start trying to think about long range goals of some of the "valued" customer.
They should build every vehicle as a bug out vehicle
I'm sure anyone who does mechanic work can attest that at sometime we hate them all, But it does seem like they could start trying to think about long range goals of some of the "valued" customer.
They should build every vehicle as a bug out vehicle
Funny. I was about to say I hate them all. Best thing to do is sell the job for the next day soak them in pb blaster and run sea foam through the brake booster until it dies in the parking lot. Go and start it up the next morning and let it run and then do the job in the afternoon.
If you read it, then it must be true. Seriously, though. Impacts are not the be all-end all. Working the plug back and forth (tighten/loosen) is gonna help quite a bit. It'll help break loose the carbon that still stuck to the shell.
Just the Tritons to my knowledge.
I feel that if you get some good highway time on a motor there will not be an excess of carbon build up. Run good fuel, keep the oil clean/run it up occasionally out of OD to get the revs up and they run pretty clean.
So your advice is not to steer clear of these motors?
Long time Ford man here, one that buys the one's others are done with.
good thing the head on my 4.0L straight 6 is cast iron...
The Triton in my van has 146,000 on 1 tune up.
Rock solid drive train. I am a GM guy but ford vans are the best and I see no issues in the Triton other than the plug problem.
We just returned from a 12 day, 3500 mile road trip. Truck used just under half a quart of oil. We ran the crap out of it through the mountains up and down the east route to Florida and back up to PA. Always rolling 80 plus MPH were safe to do so. Never missed a beat.
It isn't just in the F150's. My 2001 F250 suffers the same problem (Triton 5.4). The only problem this truck has given me in 4 years (knock on wood) is brakes and tires..
I would not steer clear of them by any means, they run great.
I would not steer clear of them by any means, they run great.
Using an impact gun on spark plugs is always a bad idea when dealing with aluminum heads. Props to those of you that have had good luck with PB Blaster, hot engines, and impacts....but as someone who does this for a living, the method outlined in Ford's TSB is the safest bet and the method that I have personally used and seen others have the best luck with. ON A COLD ENGINE, just crack the plugs loose and soak with CARB CLEANER. The purpose of the carb cleaner is to dissolve the carbon around the tip of the plug, not to loosen the threads (which may explain the results guys get from seafoam, cleaning from the inside and all.)
Fact is, these plugs will break, you're just trying to minimize the damage. The special extracting tools sold and rented at the parts stores work great, and typically only take an extra 10-15 minutes per plug. From there, use nickel anti-seize on the plug tip to make the next change easier. If at all possible, more frequent plug changes are less risky. In the end it's a terrible design, Ford is the only one to use it, and to my knowledge it's only used in the '05 and up 3V 5.4l truck engines. As an ASE Master Certified tech, seeing another tech in my shop using an impact on a spark plug would make me livid.
One man's humble opinion, which happens to be worth exactly what you paid for it.
Fact is, these plugs will break, you're just trying to minimize the damage. The special extracting tools sold and rented at the parts stores work great, and typically only take an extra 10-15 minutes per plug. From there, use nickel anti-seize on the plug tip to make the next change easier. If at all possible, more frequent plug changes are less risky. In the end it's a terrible design, Ford is the only one to use it, and to my knowledge it's only used in the '05 and up 3V 5.4l truck engines. As an ASE Master Certified tech, seeing another tech in my shop using an impact on a spark plug would make me livid.
One man's humble opinion, which happens to be worth exactly what you paid for it.
